Mushroom Lasagna (p. 211)

We had a vegetarian (Julia, my bestie from childhood) visiting from out of town this weekend, so it was time to make some Lasagna ai Funghi.

The recipe calls for both dried and fresh mushrooms, so start soaking the dried mushrooms in very hot water while preparing the rest of the vegetables. Once they have soaked for half an hour, strain them from their liquid but reserve the mushroomy water. Put these mushrooms, as well as the chopped fresh mushrooms (I used portabella), chopped yellow onion, and minced garlic in a pan with olive oil. Add in some of the reserved water that the mushrooms had soaked in as well.

Keep the veggies over the heat until the mushrooms have released most of their juices and the vegetables are soft. Add in white wine and continue cooking until the majority of the liquid has concentrated.

Cook your lasagna in batches for several minutes each and remove them to a dishtowel, making sure they don't stick together.

Make pesto, following the same recipe from the Linguini al Pesto recipe.

Next up is making the bechamel sauce, which I'd never done before. Heat olive oil in a small sauce pan and add flour, stirring constantly. Pour in milk slowly and continue beating the sauce with a whisk until it has thickened into a creamy texture. This can't be made too far in advance because it will create a skim on the top if not used right away.

Now for the assembly of the lasagna -- layer the sheets of lasagna, then bechamel sauce, pesto, half the mushroom mixture, and then dabs of ricotta cheese topped with grated pecorino cheese. Make a second layer in the exact same order, and then finish the lasagna up with a final layer of lasagna, bechemel, pesto, and grated cheese. Sprinkle bread crumbs and dribble olive oil over the top of the lasagna.

Bake for about 20 minutes and then serve hot and delicious.

Despite our wariness about mushrooms, this was really good! Let's be honest, cheese and pesto can probably make anything good. I'd totally make this again.

basil -- $3.99

lasagna -- $1.99

portabello -- $2.00

ricotta -- $1.99 (still about half left)

onion -- $.53

Total Cost of Mushroom Lasagna: $10.50