Do you feel it? Something’s changed. It may still be hot, but there’s something in the air. Even in Los Angeles you can feel the subtle shift, as summer turns to autumn. The days seem bluer and the nights last a little longer. The light has taken on a lovely lower angle in the sky. With the change of season, something’s changed with me and my kitchen habits too, so I made Mushroom Lasagna with Gorgonzola Sauce to celebrate.
I found this recipe among my mother’s cooking notes. She credits it to Susan Wyler, so I assume she adapted it from a 1980s issue of Food & Wine magazine. It’s just the kind of long kitchen project my mother favored. Exactly where, or how much she adapted from the magazine I do not know. My version is handwritten by my mother on lined paper, torn from a spiral notebook. I found it slipped into a 1980s cookbook by Martha Stewart. The sheet of paper seemed to be acting as a bookmark for page 168, where a recipe for Watercress Endive Salad can be found. So I’m going to further assume that my mom served this Mushroom Lasagna with that salad. I know I’m assuming a lot about this recipe and I haven’t even gotten to the recipe yet. But as far as I remember my mother never made this particular lasagna for me. You see, I spent most of the 1980s eating anywhere other than my mother’s table (ah, youth). In fact by 1985 I was living in California, and had only just begun to realize how much I missed my mother’s cooking.
So on the first Sunday after I sensed the change in the air, I spent a lazy day making this rather elaborate Mushroom Lasagna. It’s quite a project, I’m not denying that. But it can be made ahead, and it can even be frozen. Making it a terrifically impressive dinner party dish. Serve it with a Watercress Endive Salad, like my mom probably did. The guests will be impressed by how breezily you present such an elegant looking lasagna.
I really should say such a noble looking lasagna, because the most striking thing about this Mushroom Lasagna is its proud bearing. It stands up straight, rather than ooze all over the plate like the gloopy, cheesy pasta feasts I’d been eating in the 1980s “anywhere other than my mother’s table.” GREG
Mushroom Lasagna with Gorgonzola Mornay Sauce
Print This Recipe Yield 8–12Source Adapted from Susan Wyler, Food & WinePublished
Ingredients
- 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
- 1 ½ cup boiling water
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter (divided) plus more for baking dish
- 2 tablespoon olive oil (divided)
- 1 pound fresh cremini or baby bella mushrooms (wiped clean and trimmed)
- 2 large shallots (peeled, minced and divided)
- 1 clove garlic (peeled and minced)
- 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (divided)
- kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper (as needed)
- cayenne pepper (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh tarragon
- ½ pound fresh shitake mushrooms (wiped clean and trimmed)
- 12 dried lasagna noodles
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup cream
- ¼ pound crumbled gorgonzola cheese
- ¼ cup (plus 2 tablespoons) grated Parmasan cheese
Directions
Prepare the dried mushrooms and broth. In a small bowl, cover the dried mushrooms with 1 ½ cup boiling water; set aside to soften, about 30 minutes. Drain then roughly chop mushrooms reserving about 1‑cup of the resulting mushroom broth; set both aside separately.
Prepare the duxelles: Using a food processor or a chef’s knife finely chop cremini or baby bella mushrooms into 1/8‑inch pieces. In a large sauté pan set over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add half the minced shallots, cook stirring occasionally until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chopped cremini or baby bella mushrooms and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mushrooms exude their liquid and then become nearly dry. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice, season with salt, black pepper, cayenne and tarragon. Set aside. This mushroom preparation is known as duxelles.
Prepare the shitake mushrooms and assemble the mushroom filling: Thinly slice the shitake mushrooms. In a large sauté pan set over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter and remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add remaining shallots cook stirring occasionally until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the sliced shitake mushrooms and cook stirring often, about 1 minute. Reduce the heat and cook until softened, about 3 more minutes. Add the reserved reconstituted dried mushrooms and ½ cup of the reserved mushroom broth, and simmer partially covered, until the mushrooms are nearly tender but still chewy, about 5 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring often, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the duxelles and remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice; season with salt and black pepper. The mushroom mixture can be made up to a few days ahead of assembling and baking the lasagna. Bring to room temperature before proceeding.
Prepare the pasta: In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cool water then spread the pasta noodles flat on the clean towels to dry.
Meanwhile, make the gorgonzola Mornay sauce: Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan and add the flour, whisking to combine well. Cook for 2–3 minutes over medium heat to cook the flour slightly, whisking. Do not let it brown. Gradually whisk in the remaining ½ cup of mushroom broth, milk and cream, and bring the mixture nearly to a boil. Lower the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until thick. Remove from the heat. Add the gorgonzola cheese and ¼ c of Parmesan cheese and stir until smooth. Season with a pinch of cayenne and salt, to taste. Set aside in a warm place.
Assemble and bake the lasagna: Place the oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 13-by-8-by-2-inch baking dish. Arrange a layer of noodles on the bottom of the dish, overlapping them slightly. Spread half of the mushroom mixture over the noodles and spoon on ⅓ of the warm Mornay sauce on top, spreading it evenly. Cover with another layer of noodles, remaining mushroom mixture and half of the remaining Mornay sauce. Top with the final layer of noodles. Spread the remaining sauce even;y across the top; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove from oven, set aside to cool about 15 minutes before serving.
This is from Susan Wyler’s cookbook “Cooking For A Crowd”,It’s one of my favourite recipes and I
always make her homemade pasta for the lasagna noodles .It is a big production but so delicious I
make it in stages, and serve it as a starter for our Christmas roast beef dinner or in the summer with
cioppino.
I made this lasagna to bring to a dinner party when I first met my wife’s Italian family. In retrospect, a bold move! It was a hit, we are still married nearly twenty years later. The recipe was lost is a series of house moves. Am glad to have found this recipe for Motehr’s Day!
Oh my.….this one is just screaming my name. Time to welcome autumn with open arms.
As much as the temperature changing, the light (angle and quality) changes so much in fall. As you point out. 🙂 That means fall more to me than anything (although wearing sweaters again is a more obvious change!). Anyway, this is wonderful recipe — thanks.
Looks delicious, reads even better — but what am I missing? Why is it a ‘stand up straight’ lasagna?
Because most lasagnas ooze all over the plate from too much sauce and too much cheese. GREG
A long cooking project on a lazy sunday is the best — with a glass of red wine of course — now if it would only rain then it would be just perfect.
Beautiful! I love dishes like this. They get me in the mood for fall… when ever it might arrive.
I’m noticing the same changes in Atlanta and my cravings and cooking habits start changing with the advent of fall as well. This lasagna is the perfect way to bring in those cool evenings. I can’t imagine a better lasagna recipe!
I am to feeling it here, but I do see the shift of light to golden in the early evening. But I would make this lasagne day of the year thanks to good AC and solar power! Gorgonzola and mushrooms together is a heavenly pairing.
Ohhh I hate that I’m missing fall in Canada this year — it really is something to rave about!! My oven has been on despite the heat here in Sicily though…I need recipes like this for comfort 🙂
I can feel it in NYC too (even though it’s 80 here today!) — I think the getting dark earlier contributes to it. 🙂 This recipe looks great — and thank you for a non-pumpkin recipe in my news feed 😀
I have never made a lasagna with just mushrooms before. You can definitely consider that I will be recreating the recipe for my vegetarian household and for me, I think I will have to add in some smoky pancetta!
Mushroom lasagna has been in the cards for me lately. I’m hooked and ready for fall.
I make a porcini lasagne that is very similar. Whenever my parents went to Italy they would bring back a giant bag of porcinis which they would give to me! I am out so they need to go again but I’m afraid those days are over.This is a luscious and perfect dish for fall. Love finding notes also. It almost feels like they are there with you.
I was just thinking that tomorrow I would make something with the mushrooms in my refrigerator. You are right–it’s autumn!
In the unbaked state it is rather Pollock-esque! I love finding handwritten recipes people left in old cookbooks…I think I miss your mom’s cooking just reading about it.
It sounds excellent. Your story makes me nostalgic 🙂
It is happening…our version of fall. Slowly but surely. And it’s time for these types of dishes! Love the smell of cooking mushrooms…
I know what you mean about the light changing and the promise of fall — just around the corner. Dragging out my cool weather recipes while the a/c runs…