Ahhhhh, Lasagna! Comfort food that's guaranteed to please.

This is the classic lasagna. The one without the American twist of lots of oooey-gooey cheese and is well, better. Nick, I’m serious. This one is the real old-country deal. Mr. Maven was all oohs and ahhs, and went for seconds tonight. There was only lasagna and wine involved. Nothing naughty. Sorta.

I digress.

I was determined to make an ultimate lasagna yesterday. No holds barred. No healthy nonsense. Yet, it is healthy. Grass fed meat with loads of Omega-3’s, just a tiny touch of parmesan, veggies. Hmmmm. Maybe the Nonna’s way back in the day knew something we’ve forgotten.

This was lasagna with a rich mushroom infused ragu and topped with a classic Bechamel sauce … and just a hint of parmesan before baking. Yes, it satisfies. On the boatload level. For the entire week … taking the freezer into account.

Go along with me here.

First you want to craft the ragu … the deeply satisfying meat sauce with mushrooms three ways.

Grass fed beef, veal, and pork for 1 pound total combined

2 big, BIG cloves of garlic minced

1/2 small onion minced

1 stalk celery minced

1 carrot, minced

1/2 cup minced fresh mushrooms - wild forest nameko mushrooms if available (Whole Foods)These are mushroom umami flavor on steroids!

2 tablespoons mushroom demi-glace

3-4 tablespoons (optional) dried mushroom powder

5-6 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup white wine

28 ounce can of crushed Muir Glen or similar tomatoes

1/2 cup whole milk

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Saute the garlic, onion, carrot, celery and fresh mushrooms in the olive oil. I prefer a cast iron skillet. Add the meat and salt. Saute until the meat is browned and broken apart into bits. Add the wine and mushroom powder and let it evaporate. Add the tomatoes and the mushroom demi-glace, bring to a boil. Simmer - covered - for 45 minutes or so. Add the milk, stir and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Set aside, covered.

Get your salted water hot in a large pot for the pasta. I use a whole wheat pasta. The Bionaturae is very nice.

While the pasta water is coming to a boil - which takes longer here at 4,200 ft in Reno, Nevada - get your baking pan out for the lasagna and start your Bechamel (Besciamella in Italian) sauce.

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1/8th teaspoon ground nutmeg

1-1/2 cups heated (microwaved) 2% or whole milk

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

Melt the butter in a sauce pan with a heavy bottom. Slowly stir in the flour while whisking over medium low heat for about 2-4 minutes. Slowly pour in the heated milk, whisking all the time, while adjusting heat to allow the sauce to come to a bubble. Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Whisk for about five minutes or until the Bechamel becomes thick. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

Now boil the lasagna noodles. You’ll only need about 12 noodles for a 9 x 9 inch pyrex pan. At altitude here in Reno, it takes about eight to 10 minutes. I like them a bit al dente. Use about a tablespoon of olive oil in the boiling water. When done, drain and cover, ready for assembly.

In a buttered or oiled pyrex baking dish (9x9 inch) lay down a layer of noodles, and spoon a layer of the ragu over it and spread. Add another layer of noodles, and then another layer of the ragu etc.

Cover the top layer with a generous layer of the Bechamel sauce. Sprinkle the Bechamel with about 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes in a preheated oven, or until the top is a beautiful golden color that makes you want to swoon.

Let this stand at least 30 minutes once out of the oven. In fact, I suggest letting it sit in the fridge until the next night.

In the photo (at the top of this post), you’ll see the plated version. I reserved some of the ragu, which I reheated, spooned out on the plate and then set the warmed lasagna on the ragu. Oh so very chi-chi!

I’m telling you, everybody will go nuts for this lasagna. It’s a total keeper.

- slice out nice squares of the cold lasagna, wrapping it in plastic wrap and then foil. Put it into the freezer for a quick dinner later in the week. Now, that’s thrifty in both time and money.

*Health note- The glycemic-index rating for pasta is 55, while whole wheat pasta is 40. Comparatively, white rice is 82 and white bread is 100. The more you cook pasta, the higher the rating. Please test your pasta frequently and become accustomed to eating it “al dente”, as they do in Italy. Foods with a glycemic index of 100 or above are very quick to release sugar into the bloodstream.

Mushroom magic of umami is yours at home

I’m trying darned near everything in the handy-dandy dehydrator I bought this summer and I really am having a good time with it. The tomatoes are simply awesome.

The other day, though, I got a whole lot of the fancy-schmancy mushrooms over at Whole Foods and took them home for the dehydrator treatment. They came out just swell and was putting them into a ziplok bag when it I thought about how good they would be ground up - like a spice or rub - that I could sprinkle on and into foods to enhance that amazing umami experience in addition to just intensifying that ‘mushroomy’ goodness… say in a sauce or gravy. Wow. What about Chicken Cacciatore?

The possibilities seemed endless. And I’d also just bought a jar of Demi-Glace aux Champignons (Mushroom Base) over at Williams-Sonoma. Yes, I know this stuff is horribly pricey, but it really lasts ( a little bit goes a long way) and you just can’t find anything better to add that indescribable depth to soups and such. Better Than Boullion also has one, but they have more sodium and I’m trying to avoid that, and the flavors can be a little off.

Back to my project. Here’s a look at my fragrant trove of dried mushrooms - loose and bagged.

 

And here’s the result after grinding - in a spice grinder:

I simply put the ground mushroom into a glass jar with a tight lid. But I couldn’t leave it there. I had to try it out. Surprised, huh? Snort.

Hmmm. What about some pan seared cod with a mushroom and herb rub, then plated with an awesome sauce piquant made from my homegrown tomatoes - with more mushroom demi-glace and powder? OMG.

Here is where I begin - sauteeing my tomatoes, onions and celery in my own special ‘base’ that I keep in the fridge. It’s a food processor blend of onions, garlic, olive oil, bay leaf and parsley. It’s also Heap Big Fast and Easy Foodie Magic that I will blog about in a separate post.

I let it cook down for about 15 minutes - having added a nice amount of white wine that I was drinking, a tablespoon of anchovy paste, a tablespoon of fish base, a chunk of butter, and about two tablespoons of the powdered mushrooms. I adjusted the salt and pepper, too.

Let me tell you, the sauce piquant was so damn good at this point that had I not already had the defrosted fish sitting there wearing a nice robe of the herbs, olive oil and mushroom powder on, I’d have just spooned this sauce over some pasta, rice or potatoes. It was heavenly.

Next came pan searing the fish in some olive oil - the baked spuds are in there to keep warm.

And the payoff:

You should know that Mr. Maven does not like mushrooms. Not at all. Ever. Right, Ronda?

He LOVED this dish. It was just that good.

See my post about umami - the fifth flavor element and try this at home soon.