Mushroom Lasagna
Growing up in a very Italian family, I had eaten more than an entire town’s worth of lasagna before I was old enough to drive. My grandma made it often for Sunday dinners, and usually made multiple versions, catering to various tastes. Some of us didn’t like meat sauce (obviously, this was not me), some didn’t like chunks of onion in marinara sauce, some didn’t like anything green. My grandma wanted nothing more than to please everyone and was a more gracious woman than I could ever hope to be. While we had numerous types of lasagna (that were always delicious!), there were four constants that never changed: red sauce, mozzarella cheese, ricotta, and no vegetables. It wasn’t until much later than I realized lasagna could be made from so many different ingredients, ricotta didn’t need to be included, and the sauce could be white! This was a revelation to me, and although I have been bookmarking different types of lasagnas for some time, it wasn’t until earlier this week when pondering what to cook for dinner that my Chief Culinary Consultant mentioned a vegetable lasagna that he had at a wedding some years ago. I immediately remembered a recipe for mushroom lasagna that I saw in a magazine while on vacation in Florida, and I made it happen the next day. I’m so happy that I did – it’s absolutely fabulous and has opened my taste buds to a new world of lasagna!
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While the lasagna preparation is fairly time-consuming, it is absolutely worth every single second that you’ll spend in the kitchen. There are three different types of mushrooms used in the recipe (portabello, porcini and white button), the combination of which adds a tremendous depth of flavor. Throw in a rich bechamel sauce infused with reserved mushroom liquid, Fontina and Parmesan cheese and fresh herbs, and you have an absolutely spectacular meal. It’s perfect for serving to company or for something a little extra-special any night of the week.
Even though my grandma served up the traditional version of lasagna, I think she would have been head over heels in love with this one!
One year ago: Beer and Brown Sugar Kielbasa and Sauerkraut
Two years ago: Pumpkin Pie Bars
Three years ago: Black Bean Mushroom Burgers
Four years ago: Apple Hand Pies
Five years ago: Sweet Dinner Rolls
Mushroom Lasagna
Ingredients
- 2 pounds (907.18 g) portobello mushroom caps, gills removed, caps halved and sliced crosswise ¼-inch thick
- ¼ cup (54 ml) olive oil, divided
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup (250 ml) water
- ½ ounce (14.17 g) dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed
- 2 pounds (907.18 g) red onions, chopped fine
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) white mushrooms, finely minced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced, divided
- ½ cup (120 ml) dry vermouth
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3½ cups (854 ml) whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup (6 g) plus 2 tablespoons minced fresh basil, divided
- ¼ cup (15 g) minced fresh parsley, divided
- 12 no-boil lasagna noodles
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) fontina cheese, shredded (2 cups)
- 1½ ounces (42.52 g) Parmesan cheese, grated (¾ cup)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Toss the portobello mushrooms with 2 tablespoons olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper, and spread out on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast the mushrooms until shriveled and all liquid released from the mushrooms has evaporated, about 30 minutes, stirring halfway through roasting. Transfer mushrooms to a large bowl and set aside.
- Meanwhile, microwave the water and porcini mushrooms in a covered bowl until steaming, about 1 minute. Let sit until the mushrooms are softened, about 5 minutes. Drain the mushrooms through a fine-mesh sieve lined with a coffee filter and set over a bowl. Reserve the liquid and coarsely chop the mushrooms.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the onions to the bowl with the roasted mushrooms.
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in the empty skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the minced white mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and all moisture has evaporated, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the chopped porcini mushrooms, 3 of the minced garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper; reduce heat to medium; and cook, stirring often, until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the vermouth and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stir in the butter and allow to melt. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Slowly stir in reserved porcini mushroom liquid, scraping up any browned bits. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly, then stir in the nutmeg and bring the sauce to a simmer. Cook until the sauce has thickened and measures about 4 cups, 10 to 15 minutes. Off the heat, stir in ¼ cup of the basil and 2 tablespoons of the parsley.
- Pour 2 inches of boiling water into a 9x13-inch baking dish. Slip the lasagna noodles into the water, one at a time, and soak until pliable, about 5 minutes, separating noodles with the tip of a sharp knife to prevent sticking. Remove the noodles from the water and place in a single layer on clean dish towels; discard the water. Dry the dish and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Toss together the shredded Fontina and grated Parmesan cheeses in a small bowl. Spread 1 cup of the mushroom sauce evenly over the bottom of the prepared dish. Arrange 3 noodles in a single layer on top of the sauce. Spread ¾ cup of the sauce evenly over the noodles, then sprinkle with 2 cups of the mushroom-onion mixture and ¾ cup of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layering of noodles, sauce, mushroom-onion mixture, and cheese 2 more times. For the final layer, arrange the remaining 3 noodles on top and cover completely with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and bake until the edges are just bubbling, about 20 minutes, rotating the dish halfway through baking. While the lasagna is baking, combine the remaining 1 clove minced garlic, remaining 2 tablespoons basil, and remaining 2 tablespoons parsley in a small bowl.
- Remove the foil, increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees F, and continue to bake until the cheese on top becomes spotty brown, 6 to 8 minutes longer. Sprinkle the lasagna with the garlic-herb mixture and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Michelle,
Thank you for posting a most delicious recipe.I made it today and it turned out great. The only reason I give it three stars instead of five is what is commonly encountered in numerous recipe posts – a misleading description of prep time required. It is incorrect to state this is an “easy pasta dish that’s perfect for a weeknight meal!”. Take a look at just the mise en place work required to prep for the cooking. I followed your recipe exactly today and it took over three hours from start to finish – more than double the time that is posted. I don’t mind the work as I enjoy cooking, but I do mind the misleading teaser to entice me to make the recipe. Please consider re-visiting the tag line for this recipe. I can’t imagine anyone coming home from work thinking they will whip up an “easy” dish here… Please read Micheal K and Brooke M’s post below from 2014 – they are spot on. Triple the posted prep time and you have an accurate recipe. Thank you!
I’m getting to make this. Everything is chopped and ready to be assembled. However I’m not sure what temperature to initially cook the lasagna at before turning it up to 500.
Please help
Hi Abby, 425 degrees – it’s the first sentence in step #1.
I just made this for our family boxing day celebration….was told it was “exquisite”! Only took me an hour or so to prepare….popped it in the freezer uncooked and let it partially defrost before putting in the oven. Everyone wanted the recipe!
I was Brooke’s M’s co-chef on the mushroom lasagna experiment. I have to agree with her about the lack of “step by step” instructions. IF this recipe were more concise and written clearly a lot of time and mis-steps could have been saved and avoided. I will say the lasagna did turn out delicious, everyone loved it. But it was not worth all the time and effort. The recipe calls for an hour and half prep time. B.S.! Give yourself PLENTY of prep-time and then DOUBLE it and you may just have time to enjoy it the same day you baked it.
It took me a while to find comments from people who actually MADE this recipe! Most were from people who thought it looked good. Yes, it does look great. But it’s far more complicated than it needs to be. A friend of mine and I worked on it for FOUR HOURS! Once we were 2 hours into it, we couldn’t go back without wasting time, energy & expensive ingredients. Although the author warned that it was a complicated & time-consuming recipe, there were lots of other problems. It’s not explained or organized well. For instance, in one of the steps it says “Stir in the butter.” Stir it into what? We assumed it was to be stirred into the previous task. But no, it was a completely different part of the recipe! Therefore our “sauce” and the mushroom concoction became one and the same. I found myself washing bowls over and over again for yet another stage. It was delicious but I’ll never make it again unless I rewrote it with explicit instructions which isn’t worth it. There are simpler Mushroom Lasagna recipes out there. And just as delicious. BIG disappointment!
I made this recipe exactly, only with gluten free noodles and rice flour roux. I’m sorry to say it was exceedingly bland. It tasted like a somewhat messed up green bean casserole and while that isn’t exactly disgusting, it does not justify the time and ingredients. The different types of mushrooms and their preparations were indistinguishable and I felt really let down.
This recipe was FANTASTIC! I just made it last night with my Mom since we’re both mushroom lovers. So good and worth some of the extra effort to make it. However, you might want to double the sauce recipe, we ran out after 2 layers. But, either way it was a scrumptious lasagna.