Miriam grew up eating lasagna a lot. Like, a LOT. Lasagna is a staple in New Jersey households, especially those with children who are picky eaters but love cheese and pasta. All of that describes what Miriam was as a kid.
When we came across a more grown-up lasagna recipe from Bon Appetite, we decided to make it for ourselves. It’s a bit different from what you’ve probably had before – for one, there’s no red sauce – but it’s definitely worth trying.
Here’s what the recipe calls for:
- A pound and a half of mushrooms (we got a nice mix of all different varieties)
- Fresh mozzarella
- Butter
- Olive oil
- White wine
- A shallot
- Lasagna noodles
- Ricotta cheese
- Cream
- Salt
- Pepper
- Parmesan cheese
- Marjoram
We chopped up our mushrooms and tore the mozzarella into pieces.
Then we sautéed the mushrooms in a mix of butter and olive oil until they turned brown. We added the white wine and our chopped shallot to our skillet and kept it over medium heat until all the liquid had been cooked off.
Then it was time to build the lasagna. In a large baking dish, we laid down two cooked lasagna noodles side by side. On top of that, we spread a little bit of ricotta cheese that had been mixed with cream and seasoned with salt and pepper. Then we sprinkled a handful of the mushrooms and a few pieces of mozzarella on top of the ricotta. We topped all this off with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and some pieces of torn herbs – we used marjoram, like the recipe called for, but another green herb like basil or sage might be good too.
That’s one layer. You’ll need five more layers, each exactly the same, to complete your lasagna. This is what it looked like after it was finished.
Finally, the lasagna went in the oven for 25-35 minutes at 425°. You’ll know it’s ready when the edges of the noodles are slightly brown.
It’s probably not the lasagna you grew up with, but it’s definitely tasty – and you can play around with the recipe to make it suit you. You can add more or less (or different) cheese, you can try all kinds of herbs to see which goes well with the mushrooms, and you can add different flavors into the mushroom sauté. Whatever you make, it’s a very rich recipe, so you’ll be sure to have plenty of leftovers.