Mushroom Lasagna

I’ve been offering a mushroom crostini appetizer recently and last week i had some leftover mushrooms that I wanted to use and I thought they would go well as a lasagna filling.

A delicious success and not too hard to prepare or assemble. Some tips to help you in your prep/assembly:

• You can premake your mushroom filling and place covered in the fridge for a few days prior to assembly
• Warm up your milk when making the Bechamel
• Pre-soak your oven-ready lasagna sheets so they become easier to handle

So, why make a mushroom lasagna? It’s a mushroom lover’s dream, it’s filling, a great vegetarian dish and not that hard to make.

I am a mushroom lover and I love this lasagna.

Mushroom Lasagna

(serves 8)

Mushroom Filling

2lbs. Cremini mushrooms

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup diced onions

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. fresh thyme

3/4 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 cup dry white whine

1/4 cup marsala wine

Bechamel sauce

1/3 cup unsalted butter (or olive oil)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 cups warm whole milk

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. white pepper

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

For Assembly

1 box (375 gr.) oven ready lasagna

1 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cup grated mozzarella

pre-heated 375F oven

1. For the mushroom filling, cut your mushrooms into slices. Place a large skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil, onions and garlic and sweat for 5-6 minutes or until translucent. Add the mushrooms, bay leaves, thyme and stir in and cook for another 5-6 minutes or until most of the liquid has cooked off. Add some salt, pepper, the white and marsala wines and cook until almost all the liquid has cooked off. Take off the heat, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, remove bay leaves.
2. For the bechamel, add butter into a medium pot over medium heat. Once melted, add the flour and and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add the warm milk while whisking and then continue to stir until the sauce is thick enough to just coat the back of a wooden spoon. Take off the heat, add salt and white pepper, nutmeg, stir in.
3. You will need a 9×13″ deep pan. Calculate how many sheets of lasagna you will need (this recipe will assemble 4 layers. Place the lasagna sheets in the pan and pour enough hot water to cover them. Allow about 7- 10 minutes to soften then take out of the pan, reserve and discard water (This allows me to cut/trim lasagna sheets easier).
4. Mix the two cheeses into one bowl.
5. Lay a thin layer of bechamel on the bottom and lay your first layer of lasagna sheets (likely 3 sheets).
6. Spread bechamel on the lasagna, drizzle some cream on the lasagna sheets and sprinkle 1/3 of mushroom filling followed 1/4 of cheese filling.
7. Repeat for two more layers then top (3 layers of lasagna/mushrrom) with final layer of lasagna sheets (total 4 layers). Top with remaining bechamel, drizzle of cream and remaining cheese.
8. Apply cooking spray to the underside of foil and cover your lasagna and place in your preheated oven for 45-50 minutes. Test to see if lasagna are tender by piercing with a knife. If not, cover and place your lasagna for another 10 minutes.
9. Uncover and place back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden. Take out of the oven and allow to rest 15 minutes before serving.

PRO TIP: Assemble and cover and freeze. Bake from frozen for 1 hr 10 and 15 minutes uncovered.

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