Mushroom Lasagna — sea salt and honey

May 23

May 23 Mushroom Lasagna

Mushroom lasagna, mushrooms, comfort food, béchamel, weeknight dinner

I love a good lasagna recipe. And while red sauce and ground beef typically get top billing when it comes to lasagna, my favorite recipe actually involves a silky béchamel and lots of woodsy mushrooms. It’s warm, decadent, and such a comfort in cold weather. It also feels totally fancy and fun for a weeknight! Added bonus: no boiling lasagna noodles AND you can assemble it ahead of time and bake it whenever you’re ready. Talk about a weeknight dinner you’d like to come home to!

Mushroom Lasagna

Adapted from Ina Garten

Yield: 6-8 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 ½ boxes no-boil lasagna noodles
4 cups whole milk
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup flour
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cloves garlic, minced
24 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Pecorino Romano, grated

Directions:

For the mushrooms:

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan. Add garlic and cook 1 minute, then add mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté mushrooms until they’ve released their liquid and have softened, 6-8 minutes. Set aside.

For the béchamel sauce:

Bring milk to a simmer in a small saucepan. Set aside. Melt 8 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan, then add flour and whisk until the roux is golden, 1-2 minutes. Add the hot milk and whisk continuously. When the mixture begins to thicken, add 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1 teaspoon nutmeg. Continue to cook over medium-low heat until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes.

To assemble:

Preheat oven to 375°. (Work quickly here! If you wait too long, the sauce will become too thick and you won’t be able to spread it easily.) Ladle some of the sauce into the bottom of an 8 x 12 inch baking dish, coating the base. Layer as many lasagna noodles as will fit across the bottom. Ladle more sauce on top of the noodles. Add 1/3 of the mushrooms in a layer, then cover with ¼ cup Pecorino. Repeat the process two more times (noodles, sauce, mushrooms, cheese). For the final layer, add more noodles, the rest of the béchamel sauce, and the remaining cheese. Bake until golden brown and bubbling, about 45 minutes.