“Meatless Monday” mushroom lasagne dinner with the neighbors
I love to get together with the neighbors for a stress free weeknight dinner. I decided that a “Meatless Monday” would be the way to go and prepared my menu for a casual and easy meal. Everyone loves comfort food and Mushroom Lasagne with Roasted Asparagus says comfort to me. A lasagne highlighting mushrooms instead of meat should be a crowd pleaser.
Menu:
- Salad of sliced beets, goat cheese, walnuts and basil – see attached recipe
- Mushroom Lasagne – See attached recipe
- Roasted Asparagus – toss in olive oil, sea salt and pepper, roast for 20 minutes at 400°F
- Blackberries with sweetened crème fraîche – 1 cup store bought creme fraiche, 2 tsp honey, 1 tsp lemon juice – mix and add a dollop to a bowl of blackberries add a shortbread cookie and espresso
- Domaine Talmard Mâcon-Chardonnay – because this is an easy white wine and it was in the fridge
I started by preparing the lasagne on Sunday and kept it in the fridge until it was time to cook on Monday. I started the sauce first and while that was cooking, I prepared the mushrooms. Once the sauce and mushrooms were ready, I parboiled the lasagna noodles before building the lasagne – if you are using fresh pasta, you do not need to cook it before constructing the lasagne.
I added the aromatics to the milk before creating the béchamel sauce (see recipe), it really added flavor to the finished sauce.
I made sure to have my ingredients at hand so that the sauce and filling prep would go smoothly. I saved the stems from the portabella to add to the aromatics/milk mixture to enhance mushroom flavor.
I paired the lasagne course with roasted asparagus.
- 1 ounce porcini mushrooms
- Bechamel Sauce - see separate recipe
- 1 pound portabella mushrooms, stems and gills removed, caps thinly sliced
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound white mushrooms, thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup chopped parsley
- 3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
- sea salt and freshly milled pepper
- 1 pound dried whole wheat lasagne or 1 pound fresh lasagne
- ¾ cup freshly grated parmesan
- Cover the porcini with 1 cup of warm water and set aside to soak
- Make the Béchamel Sauce - see separate recipe
- After the Béchamel is complete, strain the porcini and add retained porcini liquid to the béchamel
- Coarsely chop the porcini
- Heat half of the oil and butter in a wide skillet over high heat
- Add half of the white mushrooms and half of the portabella, saute until edges brown, about 5 min
- Toss them with half of the parsley, half of the garlic, season with salt and pepper, remove to bowl
- Repeat with remaining butter, oil, mushrooms, including the porcini, parsley and garlic
- Add any juices that collect to the Béchamel sauce
- If using dried pasta, parboil it as directed on the box
- Butter a 9 x12 inch baking dish
- Cover with a layer of pasta, then with ½ cup béchamel sauce, one fourth of the filling and 2 tsps grated cheese
- Repeat this layering until you have four layers of filling
- Spread the final layer of pasta with the remaining sauce and cheese
- when you are ready to eat, preheat the oven to 400 degrees
- Cover the lasagne with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes until heated through
- Remove the foil and continue baking until top starts to brown about 10-15 more minutes
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 parsley sprigs
- 2 thyme sprigs
- ¼ cup diced onion
- Portabella stems
- 2 cups milk
- 3½ tablespoons butter
- 3½ tablespoons flour
- sea salt and ground white pepper
- grated nutmeg
- Heat the milk with onion, bay leaf, parsley and thyme in heavy saucepan over medium heat
- Turn off just before it boils and set aside for 15 minutes to steep
- In another saucepan, make the roux by melting the butter, adding the flour and stirring constantly over medium heat for two minutes
- Quickly pour the milk through a strainer (discard the aromatics) into the roux and whisk until thickened
- Continue to stir the sauce until it begins to boil
- Transfer the mixture to a double boiler and cook for 25-30 minutes
- Alternatively, you can use a heavy saucepan and stir frequently while cooking 25-30 minutes
- Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste
- Whisk in the porcini mushroom water (see mushroom lasagne recipe) until smooth
- 3-4 beets
- 3 ounces goat cheese
- 10-12 sprigs of basil
- 6 tablespoons chopped walnuts
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- ¼ cup olive oil
- balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste
- Boil the beets until a fork easily pierces - soft but not mushy- about 35 minutes for medium sized beets
- Let beets cool to room temp (you can prep the beets the day before and keep refrigerated)
- Slice beets about ¼" thick
- Place 3 beet slices on plate and top with about ½ ounce of goat cheese in 3 pieces
- Sprinkle basil leaves and a tablespoon of chopped walnuts over the top of beets and goat cheese
- Salt and pepper each plate to taste
- Drizzle lightly with olive oil and a small splash of balsamic vinegar
Ben says
YUM! Great pictures!
BambooCore says
How delicious. Your lasagna is divine! You have shared the most perfect combination of comfort-dishes for a cold, snowy night! I cannot wait to see what’s for dinner next Meatless Monday!
Mary says
Oh my gosh! Absolutely beautiful!