I had my eye on a recipe I wanted to try–a special mushroom seduction meal– and lucky me, the market was filled with mushrooms galore.The mushrooms I used are photographed below and include portabello, crimini, shiitake and white button.
Other mushroom varieties include: maitake, oyster, beech, enoki, chanterelle, the odd looking morel mushroom, and edible wild mushrooms. And let’s not forget my all time favorite–truffles. Here’s the recipe I was dying to try.
I went to my cookbook / magazine library and took out my copy of Vol 4 Issue 7 of delicious. magazine for Tobie Puttock’s Open Lasagne of Mushrooms with Fontina Cheese recipe. After converting the ingredients from grams to cups as best as I could; and altering the recipe slightly…I made this amazingly seductive dish. I share with you Tobie’s recipe as printed in the magazine.
Mushroom and Fontina Cheese Lasagne
2 lbs of mixed gourmet mushrooms
3 tbsp of unsalted butter
3 tbsp of olive oil, and 2 extra tbsp
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tsp marjoram, or a small handful of fresh marjoram
1/3 cup of dry white wine
2 tbsp veal glaze or beef stock
3-4 fresh lasagne sheets, cut to make twelve 3″ x 5″ rectangles (I used regular boxed lasagne sheets)
3 cups fontina cheese, thinly sliced. Plus extra grated for top
Preheat oven to 350. Wipe mushrooms using a damp towel. Cut into thick slices.
Melt olive oil and 2 tsp of the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook until tender. stirring often. Add more butter if needed. When mushrooms are done remove to a bowl. With same skillet heat extra oil over medium heat. Cook onions and garlic, stirring, for 3 minutes until just starting to brown. Add marjaram and wine and bring to boil. Reduce the heat to low, stir in mushrooms and glaze and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Place pasta in salted boiling water and cook until al dente, then drain. Place 4 pasta pieces on a greased baking tray. Leaving space inbetween each one. Use a slotted spoon (save any mushroom liquid you may have) and top each sheet with mushrooms, then some cheese. Repeat process ending with top sheets of pasta and grated cheese on top. Bake for 10 minutes to heat through and melt cheese.
Boil the mushroom liquid over medium heat for two minutes (terry:I didn’t have any left). Serve lasagne drizzled with mushroom sauce.
