Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna (with Bechamel Sauce)

From Fusion Meals

Chopped mushrooms, onion, celery, garlic, carrots

From Fusion Meals

Sausage (casing removed sectioned into pieces) browning in pan

From Fusion Meals

Sauteing ingredients

From Fusion Meals

Finished sauce

From Fusion Meals

Cooking the roux for the bechamel

From Fusion Meals

Bechamel sauce

From Fusion Meals

Building the layers for the lasagna

From Fusion Meals

Lasagna - piping hot from the oven

From Fusion Meals

Lasagna - piping hot from the oven

Background:

I usually make lasagna the "American/Southern Italian" way with Ricotta cheese.  However, I decided to try making it the "Northern Italian" way or with Bechamel sauce (milk based cream sauce).  It seems that there's decidedly less flavor than what I'm used to (probably due to the substitution of Bechamel for Ricotta).  However, the texture is much creamier than the Ricotta version.  Perhaps next time I will try cooking a "hybrid" with 1/2 ricotta and 1/2 bechamel.

Prep:

Tomato sauce

• 2 small carrots
• 2 ribs of celery
• 5-6 large button mushrooms
• 1 large onion
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 3 sausages
• 1 TS Italian seasoning
• Salt to taste
• Add pasta water to sauce as necessary (if it gets too thick)
• 16 oz tomato sauce
• Note: I prefer Cento, Tuttorossa or Scalafani for the tomato sauce - try not to use the Hunts or other generic brands as they tend to be too acidic - if you are using the Hunts/generics, you'll probably want to add ~ 1 TS of sugar to take off the edge
  

Bechamel sauce:

• 3-4 TB butter (~ 1/3 stick)
• 3 TB flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 TS salt

Lasagna:

• 1 package dried lasagna noodles (I used Barilla this time - though don't use the non-boil version)

Cooking:

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F

Tomato Sauce

• Chop/dice the vegetables and set aside
• Remove sausage meat from casing and saute in oil until browned (while sauteing,  chop up the sausage into smaller pieces with your utensil)
• Add vegetables and saute until softened
• Season with salt and Italian seasoning
• Add 1 16 oz. can of tomato sauce 
• Bring to a boil
• Lower to a simmer and cook for ~ 15 min to 1/2 hour depending on your desired consistency for the sauce
• Note:  I usually add the mushrooms during the last 5 min of cooking to prevent them from "wilting" into unidentifiable pieces

Bechamel Sauce

• Melt butter in sauce pan
• Add flour and stir - cook until fully incorporated and mixture is "golden brown" in color (this mixture is commonly referred to as a "roux")
• Add salt
• Heat milk (I heat it in the microwave) until hot but not boiling
• Add hot milk to roux and stir while cooking
• Cook until consistency turns to that of a thick cream (should coat the back of your utensil)
• Turn off heat and set aside

Lasagna

• Boil lasagna in salted water until "al dente" (e.g. cooked but just a bit hard when you bite down)
• Cool pasta in cold water until it's cool enough to handle

Assembly

• Add thin layer of tomato sauce to bottom of pan
• layer the lasagna noodles on top with minimal overlap
• Add layer of bechamel
• Add more tomato sauce
• Add Parmesan cheese/mozzarella cheese
• Construct alternate layers of lasagna noodle, tomato sauce and bechamel and cheese
• Top with remaining sauce and cheese
• Cover pan with foil
• Bake at 375 deg. F for 15-20 min.
• Remove from oven and cool for ~ 10 min prior to serving