Make Ahead
Lasagna Bianco with Porcini & Sausage
- Serves 6
Author Notes
During the snow storm of the century in Central Italy, I can't think of a better way to warm up than devouring a plate of rich & creamy pasta with a good bottle of red after a day of shoveling the drive. Perfect for a cold winter's night, lasagna bianco, 'white lasagna' is made with porcini mushrooms, sausages & bechamel, a local classic in northern Le Marche. A refined take on the usual red sauce classic, that will have your mouthwatering for more after the first bite.
Extra Delicious Tip: Make sure to have your pasta sheets large enough to hang over the edges creating golden crispy edges!
—La Tavola Marche
What You'll Need
Ingredients
-
1
recipe for egg pasta or 4 layers of pasta sheets
-
1
recipe for bechamel
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8 ounces
sausage meat
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2
garlic cloves, whole, peeled
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2 handfuls
(about 2 cups) chopped mushrooms (we use pocini, chanertel and other local wild mushrooms)
-
1 handful
(small) of chopped parsley
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3 tablespoons
olive oil
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salt & pepper
Directions
- In a skillet on low heat slowly brown whole peeled cloves of garlic for 2-3 minutes turning frequently.
- Then raise the heat to medium, add the sausage meat to the pan and all to cook slowly until there is no pink in the meat about 8-10 minutes. With the back of a fork smash the meat into little pieces.
- Add in your mushrooms and season with salt & pepper.
- Once the mushrooms cook out their liquid, lower the temperature and cook for 10-15 minutes until nice & soft. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to the pan if all the liquid cooks out so the pan doesn’t go dry.
- Shut off the heat and taste, checking your salt & pepper, stir in parsley.
- Assembly of the lasagna
- Have ready parmesan, sausage & mushroom mixture, béchamel, pasta sheets & baking dish.
- Start by placing a small amount of bechamel in the bottom of your baking dish - spreading it out.
- One layer of pasta into boiling water until it is half-cooked. (Cooking time will vary based on type of pasta - fresh vs. dried)
- Put the pasta down in the baking pan. Add a quarter of the mushroom sausage mixture, dotting the top with bechemel and a healthy sprinkle of cheese. Repeat this process until you have 4 layers.
- Bake at 400 degree oven until the edges are golden brown & bubbly.
- Freezes well. If you take out of the freezer, allow to defrost & come up to room temperature, then hit the corners of the lasagna with a few drops of milk to add moisture.
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