Cheesy, creamy, loaded with mushrooms, Mushroom-Leek Lasagna is a nice alternative to lasagna with meat sauce and a great casserole for a cold winter’s night. My husband can only take so many mushrooms—go figure—so I’m freezing half of it, instead of insisting on a week’s worth of leftovers. I did use a ton of mushrooms, and only some of them were his favorite shiitake, so I understand his apprehension, but he did eat one and a half servings. We both agreed that this white lasagna was less filling than the traditional red lasagna, which can seem heavy. It was very good, says this mushroom lover.
Mushroom-Leek Lasagna
Preheat oven to 350°; grease a 13 x 9 inch baking dish or two 8 inch square dishes if you want to freeze one.
Ingredients
Substitute your favorite mushrooms, and keep in mind that they cook down, so you need a lot.
- Mushroom-leek filling:
- 16 oz shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed, and sliced
- 24 oz baby portobella mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- 8 oz white button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- 3 oz maitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced in strips
- 3 leeks, white portion only, cleaned and thinly sliced
- 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil for sautéing mushrooms
- Salt & pepper to taste (I seasoned each batch of leeks and mushrooms)
- Ricotta filling:
- 2 lbs whole milk ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried or 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
- 1 lb fontina cheese, grated
- 4 cups medium white sauce (béchamel, if you want to use your French). See recipe below.
- Whole wheat no-boil lasagna noodles (my package was 9 oz)
Preparation
- Mix ingredients for ricotta filling and set aside or refrigerate until assembly.
- Sauté leeks in olive oil over medium heat until softened. Remove to large mixing bowl.
- Sauté mushrooms in batches in olive oil over medium-high heat until slightly browned. I cooked the shiitake first, because they are more delicate than the others. I cooked the baby bella and white mushrooms together until all the liquid they exude evaporates and the mushrooms brown a little. I cooked the maitake last in very high heat to brown well. Remove each batch of cooked mushrooms to the bowl with the leeks. Mix the leeks and mushrooms to combine. I would say you need about 6-8 cups of cooked mushrooms to make full layers.
- Lay one layer of noodles in the bottom of the baking dish.
- Cover with half the the ricotta filling.
- Cover the ricotta with half the mushroom-leek mixture.
- Cover the mushroom-leek mixture with 1/3 of the fontina cheese.
- Cover the layer with 1/3 of the white sauce.
- Repeat steps 4-8 to make a second layer.
- Place a third layer of lasagna noodles over the second layer, pressing slightly to compact the lasagna. Pour remaining white sauce over the noodles and sprinkle the remaining fontina chees on top.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for 30 minutes or until top is browned and the noodles are tender.
- Cut the lasagna into 8 large squares.
Medium White Sauce
Increase ingredients to make 4 cups:
For every 1 cup of sauce, use
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 2 tablespoons of flour
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup of milk—you may scald the milk first in a saucepan or microwave
- dash of ground nutmeg
Melt the butter over medium low heat. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper until all the flour is incorporated. It will be a very thick mixture. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring continuously. You shouldn’t get any lumps, but I notice that current recipes suggest whisking. I never had to use a whisk to avoid lumps, but I think the slow addition of the milk is key. Continue to stir, lowering the heat to a simmer if your stove cooks hot, until thickened.
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