Mushroom Lasagna...

Lasagna is comfort food at its best, because of the unique combination of ingredients and flavors that go into the dish. We all have a lasagna recipe that we use as our base and tweak and revise as our taste change.

A month or so ago, I was invited to a birthday bash at a friend's house and asked to bring a dish to contribute to the dinner, so I immediately thought of lasagna. At the party, the table groaned with beautiful entrées, creative salads and appetizing desserts, but my simple platter of pasta emptied the fastest. Just last week one of the other guests who had been at that party asked me if I would bring "that mushroom pasta dish" to their potluck dinner. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be in town, so I thought I would share it here.

I love to participate in the process of sharing recipes, because of the creative differences we all add to the food we eat. I like to think that other cooks all over the world, making their interpretations of the same basic recipe, passing them on and making the food we eat endlessly interesting.

Here is my interruption of lasagna:



Mushroom Lasagna

Ingredients:
6 - 8 ounces fresh mushrooms (morels, chanterelles, oyster, etc.)
1 cup heavy cream
1½ cup reduced low-sodium chicken stock, preferably homemade
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoon flour
¼ cup white wine
salt and pepper to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup parsley, minced
Parmeggiano-Reggiano, shredded
pinch fresh nutmeg
½ pound flat lasagna
white truffle oil (optional)

Add the cream into the stock mixture and warm in a small saucepan.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter until it foams. Add flour and make a roux, stirring, for about a minute until it just starts to darken in color. Add stock/cream mixture and stir in the nutmeg. Simmer sauce 1 hour in a double boiler until it coats the spoon nicely. Remove from heat and set aside.

Sauté the mushrooms in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter on medium high heat, stirring constantly. When the mushroom color begins to deepen and they dry out a bit, add additional and the wine. Raise heat and briskly reduce the liquid to a syrupy glaze on the mushrooms, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and most of the parsley and stir a few times over heat and then remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degree F.

Break up the sheets of pasta into irregular pieces and cook the pasta al dente.

Scrape the mushrooms into the cream sauce, give it a stir and correct the seasoning. Drain the pasta well and mix it with the sauce in a buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle with the cheese, drizzle with truffle oil, and bake 15 - 20 min or more until browned and crusty on top. Garnish with remaining parsley and serve immediately, with additional cheese on the side.

I usually serve this with a salad, crusty bread and a glass of Merlot for a simple supper, but for a more elaborate meal it would make a nice pasta course in front of beef tenderloin or other meat entrées.

Serves 6

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George’s notes:

• You may assemble this recipe, but not bake ahead of time. Just keep refrigerated. Allow to come to room temperature before baking, or extend the baking time, and give the pasta a good toss with tongs to be sure it's well coated with the sauce before baking.
• Although the lasagna is generally believed to have originated in Italy; but the recipe was featured in the first cookbook ever written in England, leading to an urban legend that the dish originated in the British Isles.