Mushroom LAsagne Recipe
This mushroom lasagne recipe is perfect if you’re thinking of cooking a lighter, summery lasagne, or are cooking for vegetarians! I actually prefer mushroom lasagne to a classic (meat) lasagne. It’s got some re-imagination to compliment the mushrooms: pistachio pesto, half the mozzarella substituted for emmental, and the white sauce is ricotta based, which really makes it special. It does take an hour or so to prepare, but the nice thing is that you can make it the day before and just chuck it in the oven on the day.
Prep Time: 1.5hr
Cook Time: 60 Mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: Makes 4-6
Ingredients
White Onions - 4
Mushrooms (Chestnut, Portobello, or White) - 800g
Thyme (or Lemon Thyme) - a few sprigs
Mascarpone - 250g
Ricotta - 500g
Lemon (unwaxed if possible) - 1
Grated Mozzarella - 250g
Grated Emmental - 200g
Fresh Lasagne Sheets - 1 pack (c.10 sheets)
Extra Olive Oil - for cooking
Seasoning - Salt & Pepper
For the Pistachio Pesto (or buy c.150g - 200g of fresh pesto)
Pistachio Kernels - 150g
Basil - 50g
Garlic paste (or garlic cloves) - 1 tsp or 2 cloves
Olive Oil - 5 tbps
Method
Mushroom Lasagne Step One - Slow Cooked Onions
Slice the onions (about the width of a pound coin) and remove the leaves from a few sprigs of the thyme. Place both in a big flat-bottomed pan with a good dollop of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and some pepper. Cook at a very-very low heat, stirring occasionally. The idea is that the heat should be low enough that onions can be on the hob for around 1 hour and ideally a little longer, before they brown (it’s the same method as making french onion soup). The slower you cook them, the sweeter and more complex the flavour will be. Once they’ve browned (but not burnt), remove from the heat an set aside. Note: you can continue with the rest of the recipe whilst the onions are slowly cooking away.
Mushroom Lasagne Step Two - Toasted Nuts
Whilst the onions are cooking down, you’ll have time to make the pistachio pesto. If you’ve opted to buy fresh pesto then you can skip this (and the next) step. To make the pesto, place the pistachios in a pan with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Cook over a low heat turning occasionally until the pistachio have taken on some colour. Add the garlic paste (or cloves) and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat.
Mushroom Lasagne STEP Three - Pistachio Pesto
Place the basil, pistachio / garlic mix, and olive oil into a blender and blend for a couple of minutes until it resembles the consistency of fresh pesto / looks like the picture for step 3. If it looks too dry, taste a little of it. So long as it doesn’t taste too oily you can add another tablespoon or so of olive oil and blend again.
Mushroom Lasagne STEP Four - A New Take On White Sauce
If you’re using an unwaxed lemon then zest the lemon (putting the zest aside for later), no problem if you’re not through.
Then time to make an amazing white sauce: Stir together the ricotta, mascarpone, thyme, and juice from the lemon, with a little salt and quite a bit of pepper.
That’s it; voila, you have a white sauce!
Mushroom Lasagne STEP Five - Fast Cooking MushRooms
By now I’m guessing that the onions are probably nearing being cooked. If so you can take them out and use that pan; if not, grab a new pan and put in the mushrooms, some more thyme, the lemon zest (if using), salt, pepper, and a decent splash of olive oil. Cook over a medium-high heat, stirring often.
They’ll release a lot of liquid; keep cooking until it’s reduced by about a half. Then take off the heat (but leave the mushrooms in the pan, you’ll be adding stuff to them in the next step)
Mushroom Lasagne STEP SIX - Mixing Mushrooms
Once the onions and mushrooms have both finished cooking, it’s time to start to pull it all together.
Put aside one third of the pesto (you’ll need it for the topping) and add the remaining two-thirds to the pan with the mushrooms in. Also add the onions.
Stir the mushroom / onion / pesto mix together. Taste, and season accordingly.
Mushroom Lasagne STEP Seven- Layering Up
Now it’s time to layer up. You’ll need an appropriately high sided baking tray (or two loaf tins). You’ll then need three bowls / trays: 1 with the white sauce mix, one with the mushroom mix, and combine the grated cheeses together in a third bowl to give you the set.
I then find the best layering for the lasagne is (from the bottom up):
- A very thin layer of white sauce on the base (to prevent sticking)
- Pasta sheets
- Half the mushroom mix, with a quarter of the cheese on top
- Pasta sheets
- Half the remaining white sauce, with a quarter of the cheese on top
- Pasta sheets
- The other half of the mushroom mix with a quarter of the cheese on top
- Pasta sheets
Then you should have half the white sauce, a quarter of the cheese, and that pesto you set aside earlier
Mushroom Lasagne STEP Eight - Well That Tops it Off
The final step in preparing the lasagne is the topping, it deserves it’s own step as you’ll do something quite fun here.
On top of the top sheet of pasta spread the pesto as thinly as possible. Then gently spread the last of the white sauce on top of that, being careful to mix the pesto and white sauce as little as possible. Then, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
The reason we’ve done that is that now when the lasagne cooks, the pesto will bubble through the white sauce to the top creating a marble browning effect.
And that’s it, cover it in foil and set aside until you need to cook it. It’ll keep like that at least until tomorrow.
Mushroom Lasagne STEP Nine - Mushroom Lasagne
Final step is the cooking. Get the oven to 190°C (170°C for fan, or 340°F).
The lasagne will take 1 hour to cook overall, but the first 40 minutes will be blind baked (to stop the cheese burning). So cover the top of the tray in foil (try and keep a bit of a gap between the cheese and the foil if you can as the cheese will try and stick to the foil whist cooking).
Put it covered in the over for 40 minutes. Then take off the foil and let cook for the last 20 minutes uncovered - or until the top’s a nice brown colour and the lasagne’s hot all the way though.
And that’s it, hope you enjoy!