Cheesy Vegetarian Mushroom Lasagna
The ultimate Sunday Supper: meaty mushroom lasagna perfectly pairs with an earthy Grenache or Pinot Noir.
My husband is something of a lasagna connoisseur, ordering it just about every time it’s on the menu. It’s because of his affection for the labor intensive dish that I don’t make it very often out of principle. You see, his mother’s version of lasagna is what he considers to be his all-time favorite, and no other lasagna comes close to it… until I unveiled this meatless mushroom lasagna.
In my family, lasagna has always been a special occasion type of meal because it’s often so time consuming. This meaty mushroom version is no exception. It’s not a snap your fingers and it’s done type of recipe, which is why I opted to make it most recently for a casual Sunday Supper at my father-in-law’s house with my husband and his brother. At first I was somewhat apprehensive about walking into the house with a lasagna that wasn’t what they were used to, but because they’re so different (hers had Italian sausage in it), I thought, what the heck. If they want a home cooked meal, they’ll eat it and keep their criticism to themselves.
THEY LOVED IT. Every bite of it, in fact. The three of them actually fought for the leftovers, which I would say either means it’s been so long since they’ve all sat down together for a home cooked meal that wasn’t a holiday, or it’s just that good. I’m going with the latter of the two.
With three different types of mushrooms (portobello, white button, and dried porcini) and lots of delicious fontina cheese, it would be hard not to fall in love with this lasagna. I especially like it for an extremely filling, but meatless dinner that feeds a crowd that is perfect for special occasions like holidays or even birthday celebrations, which will become a tradition to look forward to as more candles are added to the cake.
While this vegetarian mushroom lasagna feels like it takes an entire day to make, the effort is worth it. Inspired by Ina Garten’s portobello mushroom lasagna, I made a few tweaks and additions to make it my own. Rather than use white wine to make the mushroom béchamel sauce, I added dry vermouth. Why dry vermouth you might ask? Because while recently in New York, I had the most amazing mushroom pasta I’d ever had in my life. I kindly asked our server to find out what was actually in the sauce, when the chef himself came out and smiled before simply saying dry vermouth. It instantly clicked for me. Try it next time a recipe calls for dry white wine and you’ll instantly smell the difference as the sauce cooks.
This vegetarian mushroom lasagna can be assembled up to two days in advanced and carefully stored in the refrigerator. You won’t be relinquishing any of the flavors; simply allow for more cooking time.