I am a huge fan of lasagne! It's definitely my favourite pasta dish but for some reason we don't tend to make it very often. It just feels much more time consuming than good old spaghetti bolognaise which we eat pretty regularly.
I had my eye on this mushroom lasagne recipe from Delicious Everyday for ages. It was actually part of a series of Christmas posts from 2010 when the blog was called Le Delicieux, so that tells you just how long it's been hanging around!
I know the recipe looks long but I managed to get this in the oven within an hour, which seems amazingly fast considering I made the pasta from scratch! I was also pregnant at the time with 2 other kids to look after so was feeling very chuffed to make making something so fancy :)
And how did it taste? DIVINE. The earthiness of the mushrooms paired with the creamiest bechamel, tender bite of the pasta and the gorgeous salty parmesan on top ... it was just perfect. If I ever need to make something vegetarian for Christmas this will be ideal.
Mushroom Lasagne
Very slightly adapted from Delicious Everyday
Fresh Pasta
400g strong 00 flour
4 extra large eggs
1 tbs olive oil
1 ts salt
Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Make a well in the centre. In a small bowl whisk the eggs until the yolks are broken up, then pour into the well. Add the oil.
Using your fingertips, slowly start to mix the eggs and oil into the flour. Once combined, tip the dough out onto a floured board and knead for approximately 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cut into 4 pieces, wrap each in cling film and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare your mushroom base and bechemel sauce.
Using your pasta machine, roll out each section of dough. I feed each piece through level 1 x 5 times, then once each on 2 -5. Lay out on a tea towel and cover until you are ready to use it.
Mushroom base
600g mixed mushrooms (portabella, swiss brown, button)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 brown onion, diced
3 ts fresh thyme, chopped
2 ts salt
1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
2 tbs beef/vegetable stock or red wine
In a large frying pan over a medium heat, fry together the olive oil and onion for a few minutes until it starts to soften. Add the garlic and cook until the onion is translucent.
Add the mushrooms, thyme, salt and pepper and cook until the mushrooms are soft. Add the stock/wine and cook until all the liquid is absorbed.
Set aside and allow to cool completely.
Bechemel sauce
500ml full cream milk
1 bay leaf
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
3 ts butter
3 ts flour
1/4 ts salt
1/4 ts freshly cracked pepper
60g of freshly grated parmesan cheese
Pour the milk into saucepan, add the bay leaf and garlic and allow towarm gently over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.
In a large saucepan over a medium heat melt the butter before whisking in the flour. Cook for a minute to remove the flour taste. Pour in the warmed milk and whisk constantly until all the butter and flour is incorporated. Switch to a spatula and cook until the sauce is your preferred thickness. Don’t stop stirring! Add the salt, pepper and parmesan and stir until well combined.
Lasagna assembly
Fresh lasagne sheets
60g parmesan cheese, grated
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C / 160 degrees fan-forced.
Grease your lasagne dish with butter and line the base with a lasagna sheet. Cut them to fit if needed.
Cover with half the mushroom mixture and top the mushrooms with 1/3 of the bechemel sauce. Repeat ending with a final lasagne sheet topped with the remaining bechemel sauce. Sprinkle over the grated parmesan.
Bake for around 40 minutes or until the lasagne sheets are tender and the top is golden brown.
