One-Pan Wild Mushroom Lasagna

This is going to be a weird post. Well, maybe not weird so much but a little off the light-hearted food and travel topic? Well you have been warned so feel free to just skip to the yummy recipe because it is delicious. Here goes... I have been thinking a lot about food waste recently. (Yes, I just went to that very depressing topic). This topic of has been top of mind for me recently because of the way food has taken off on platforms like Instagram and food blogs. It is a total phenomenon that has just exploded in the past couple of years.

In this new age of food photography and food styling I am worried about food waste. We all love to take pictures of food (most definitely myself included) and look at pictures of food because food is a common denominator. Literally every one on this huge planet of ours is connected by food in someway. Because of that it has become huge on social media. There are Instagram accounts devoted to food with hundreds of thousands, millions even, of followers devoted to just food pictures. (Full disclosure, I have an Instagram account that's pretty much devoted only to food with an occasional travel shot and I am so proud to be part of that community)

I love -LOVE- styling food and taking pictures of food - it is a passion that I never knew I had. I could spend all day cooking and shooting food. But I try really hard not to waste food. 95% of the time I eat the food that I photograph and style and 100% of the time someone else eats it (usually Luke or maybe even Chumley if it is scraps of meat).

I guess the idea that I am trying to get at is I hope we are being thoughtful about the impact - whether it is eating it or photographing it - just know that food came from somewhere and it has an impact on our world. So if you are going to photograph it (which you should!), make sure you eat it or someone else eats it. I don't mean to preach but I had to share my thoughts. And maybe this new found food photography and food Instagraming world will change the way we produce, think about and eat food. Just maybe. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for letting me rant. Phew - I got that out.

But seriously regardless of my stream of consciousness that happened up above. You should make this lasagna because it is delicious and it only uses 1 pan!( I will repeat that, it only uses 1 pan!)

Since I am not a huge meat-eater (but definitely not a vegetarian) I look for other ways to get that same heartiness and one of the easiest swaps for meat is mushrooms. The texture of mushrooms is so meaty making them great substitutes. I love going to Berkley Bowl and walking down the aisle that has the mushrooms. There are so many different kinds of mushrooms beyond the typical cremini and shitake. They are fascinating little things. One of the coolest parts of the fungi world is how vastly different they look from each other - from porcini to chanterelle to oyster they look completely different and almost alien-like.

Given my rant above I wanted to let you know what happened to this pan of deliciousness. I gave it to friends. The recipe and the photography was actually shot for a freelance client but I wanted to share the recipe with you all so I re-shot it. We were having dinner with friends that night and since Luke despises mushrooms and I couldn't eat all of it, we gave it away to our friends to enjoy.

So go ahead take as many pictures as possible of gorgeous food, especially if you make this wild mushroom lasagna, but just try to be thoughtful about what happens after you get that perfect shot.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs wild mushrooms
1 large shallot, minced
4 Tbs. butter
4 Tbs. flour
3 cups milk
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 cup ricotta
2 eggs
1 tsp. chopped thyme plus more for garnish
1 ½ cups gruyere cheese, shredded
1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
½ lb lasagna noodles
Parmesan cheese for grating

Method:

In a large sauté pan heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté mushrooms with a large pinch of salt in batches until golden brown. Set aside.

In the same pan sauté shallot over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add butter and stir until melted. Add flour and stir for 1 to 2 minutes or until the butter and flour mixture becomes golden brown. Slowly whisk in milk and carefully whisk until thickened about 2 to 3 minutes. Add nutmeg and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Pour béchamel into a medium size bowl and set aside.

In a small bowl combine the ricotta,eggs, thyme and pinch of salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.

Create the lasagna by spreading a quarter of the béchamel mixture on the bottom of the sauté pan. Top with a quarter of the lasagna noodles (about 3), then spoon on a quarter of the ricotta mixture, quarter of the mushrooms and add a handful of cheese. Repeat process two more times, ending with noodles on top. Spread remaining béchamel, mushrooms, and cheese. Top with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and garnish thyme leaves.

Bake lasagna covered for about 30 to 40 minutes then uncover and continue cooking until the lasagna is bubbling and top is golden brown.

One-Pan Wild Mushroom Lasagna