Mushroom Lasagna

Preheat the oven to 375F. (I waited to do this until after the noodles were cooked and the bechamel sauce was started).

Bring a large pot of water to boil, with a dash of salt and oil. Add the noodles and cook for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside – if you feel they are going to stick a lot drizzle a bit more oil on them once drained.

Make the bechamel/white sauce: Bring milk and garlic to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat.

Melt one stick of butter in a large pot (I reused the pot that the noodles cooked in) over medium heat. When the foam from the butter has subsided, add the flour and over low heat whisk constantly for about a minute. Start adding the hot milk mixture into this mixture a little bit at a time. When you add the first bit of milk, the mixture may clump and you will think you have gone wrong. You haven’t. Just keep adding the milk and stirring after each addition until the milk is all added and you have a thick white sauce. Add pepper and nutmeg, taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Take off heat and set aside.

Prepare mushrooms: Discard the stems of the portobellos and/or trim stems of creminis. Slice mushrooms into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Heat half of the remaining butter in a frying pan or saucepan, and saute half of the mushrooms with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes, until they are releasing some liquid. Remove those mushrooms into a bowl and repeat process with the remaining butter and remaining mushrooms.

To assemble: Spread some sauce in the bottom of your baking dish, followed by a layer of noodles. Then spread 1/4 of remaining sauce on top of noodles, followed by 1/3 of the mushrooms, and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Repeat this layering sequence twice. For the final layer, top the noodles with remaining white sauce and another 1/4-1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for 45 minutes, until top is browned and sauce is bubbling.

If you can resist digging in right away, let sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. We did not let it rest and it was still excellent.