Lasagna with Ricotta, Mushrooms and Marinated Artichokes

 

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I used to cook large quantities of everything for years but lately I have been scaling things down because first, there is only the two of us at home, and second, I cook so much every day so I don’t really want leftovers. This lasagna is a case in point. I made small recipe, enough for 4 servings, something we can go through quickly and move on to other culinary adventures.

I made this one with ricotta, marinated artichokes and wonderful foraged mushrooms that I buy from our local forager at the farmers market. These were beautiful hedgehog mushrooms, fragrant, meaty in texture and full flavoured specimen. If you don’t have this type, use another mushroom variety that you can find in your store, perhaps chanterelles would be the sensible substitute.

I make my own pasta sheets because, well, I love to cook, but you don’t have to. Instead I would recommend the ready to use pasta sheets that do not require prior cooking. Western Family has a nice black box of them in just the right size for a smaller recipe, or go to your Italian store, they have Italian varieties as well. Don’t use the long curly edge pasta strips, please. Or, do as you wish, it’s your kitchen.

You can make lasagna with red or white sauce. I made the lasagna with red tomato sauce, the one I always have in my fridge or freezer, or both. It’s the classic Marcella Hazan recipe and you just can’t beat it. I made a few jars with end-of-summer tomatoes and the flavour is simply sublime. Here is the link for the recipe.

I layered this lasagna first with ricotta and mushrooms, then with ricotta and artichokes and third layer of ricotta and mushrooms. This is not written in stone, layer it as you wish. I do always place a layer of lasagna noodles on top of the third layer, then pour the rest of the sauce over before I sprinkle with mozzarella. That creates three layers of filling and four layers of noodles.

Enjoy.

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Wild Hedgehog mushrooms

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Ingredients:

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Small oven ready lasagna sheets to make a 3 layers lasagna plus a fourth layer of just noodles. Number depends on the size of your dish.

3 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups hedgehog or chanterelles mushrooms, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
salt and pepper

2 cups ricotta (I used local Tanto Latte ricotta container)
1 cup grated parmesan
2 eggs

1 cup drained marinated artichokes (from a store bought jar, use the rest to top pizza or in pasta dishes)

Shredded mozzarella

2 cups tomato sauce

 

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Directions:

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The mushrooms:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, add the onion and cook until translucent.
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
Add the mushrooms and cook until they soften.
Add salt, pepper and thyme as the mushrooms are cooking.
Remove to a bowl and set aside.

Ricotta:
Combine the ricotta with the eggs and half the grated parmesan. Set aside.

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Assembling:

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First layer:

Spoon 1/3 cup of the sauce into the bottom of a small baking pan (I used 9X9 square)
Place lasagna sheets over the sauce and spoon a bit more sauce over the pasta.
Spoon 1/3 of the ricotta over the pasta
Spoon half of the mushrooms over the pasta.
Sprinkle some of the remaining parmesan over.

Second layer:

lasagna noodles, tomato sauce, ricotta, artichokes

Third layer:

Lasagna noodles, tomato sauce, ricotta, mushrooms, parmesan

Cover with a fourth layer of lasagna noodles.

Pour remaining tomato sauce over and scatter grated mozzarella on top.

Bake in 375F oven for 30 minutes or until lightly bubbling and the cheese on top is golden brown.
Rotate the pan once during the cooking to ensure even browning on top.

Let the lasagna rest and settle for 20 minutes before slicing it into squares or rectangles for serving.

Buon appetito.

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Tomato Sauce click here for the recipe.

 

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Tomato sauce

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Foraged Hedgehog mushrooms

 

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