Pasta for a grey April day, when it really should be spring

My friend Ed, who is a brilliant cook, and a vegetarian, came for lunch today - two reasons to be nervous: I can't out-cook him, and I panic when I can't put bacon in food, fearing that it'll taste bland*.  Still, I trust Nigel Slater wholeheartedly, and decided to make his mushroom and pesto lasagne, - partly because today's weather is exactly the sort of weather for such a mellow, comforting dish - and partly because I had some bechamel in the freezer that was annoying me. (If something is there, I have to do it / eat it / buy it / break it - I'm not very good at ignoring things.)

So: lasagne.  Labour of love / ball-ache but worth it.  The sheets always remind me of the sheets

of a book:

Maybe my next book should be printed on lasagne, and then you could eat it, as and when...

Anyway, the recipe is pretty easy.  It's mostly about the mushrooms:

and the cream and cheese:

lifted with a burst of fresh, super green parsley:

Nigel says make your own pesto.  I say buy your own pesto:

I have a hard enough time trying to get the pasta sheets to fit neatly on top of the sauce.

Nonethless, it all worked out fine in the end - in spite of a rather large fissure:

And the best thing about it all?  The best thing?  No, not the beautiful golden bubbling cheesy topping:

And not even the beautiful silky layers of pasta, enveloping a creamy, cheesy sauce:

No.  The best thing is that when you cook for someone who's a better cook than you, they bring dessert...

Epic cookies:

Seriously epic cookies:

Ginger, chocolate, crunchy, chewy, slightly fiery, totally moreish.  Yes, that was the best bit about the lasagne.

(* I hate to say it but I do think the lasagne would have been perfect if I'd put bacon in with the cream, mushrooms, cheese and parmesan.)