The casserole season is not over yet! Rain and clouds have pervaded the atmosphere, so the inhabitants of our house have no choice but to hunker down and nap. There is no desire to romp in the back yard or grill up a chunk of meat, and I get one last fling with my beloved baked pasta. For this occasion, I turned to a recipe for portobello lasagna I’d printed out after seeing Ina Garten make it in an episode of Barefoot Contessa.
Say what you will about Food Network, but I love it. I don’t love all of their “celebrity” chefs (Nigella, I’m looking at you), but I like to watch the cooking shows for any inspiration that might come. Heck, it’s just as fun to hear Jamie Oliver pronounce basil as “bazzle” and wonder just how many more low-cut tops Giada’s wardrobe department can find. Ina Garten is one of my favorites, second only to Alton Brown. I love how she doesn’t make food look overly styled or prissy, and she tells you if you really need that type of cheese before you go hunting down mountain goats for their curd. Despite my long-standing admiration for her, I’d never attempted one of her recipes before now, and I don’t know why I waited.
When we manage to make a dish that is truly outstanding, JG’s highest compliment is that he “would pay for this,” and mine is that I would serve it to my mother. When confronted with this meal, we would gladly invite my mother out to dinner and pay for this lasagna — that’s how good it was. The layer of Parmesan cheese made a crispy top, and the mushrooms played well off of the flavorful sauce that oozed out of the lovely strata of noodles. It was, yet again, a dish to make Kennett Square proud. Thank you, Ina, so very much.
Even better, I found the recipe to be pretty doable, even for a non-multi-tasker (in the kitchen, that is) who gets flustered easily. To save money, I used both full-size portobellos and what my supermarket charmingly calls “baby bellas,” and I was pleased with the overall effect. I have never actually made lasagna, so I found the process of layering noodles, sauce, and cheese to be labor-intensive, but the attractive levels of ingredients in the end were worth it. As I mixed up the sauce, I cocked an eye at the “1 tablespoon of salt,” but I reminded myself, “It’s Ina! Trust her!” and tossed it in. Later, I tasted the sauce and found it saltier than a driveway in a New England winter. What had I done? Ina, what is going on? I fretted while the lasagna baked in the oven, but upon first taste, my fears were allayed. The noodles had soaked up the sauce nicely, and everything was well-seasoned. How could I have doubted?
That said, Ina, what are you trying to do to me? A stick and a half of butter? Four cups of whole milk? A cup of Parmesan cheese? Sure, we got twelve servings out of our baking dish, but the accumulative fat effect is a bit ridiculous. Next time (oh, there will be one), I’m cutting the salt just a tad, and I’ll try to reduce the butter by half and thicken the sauce with cream cheese, as in my favorite fettuccine alfredo recipe. There is no small amount of guilt associated with eating the lasagna as is, but our fridge is filled with leftovers now, and we can’t very well throw it out. Our only recourse is to power through and bring in the lasagna for lunches this week. JG and I are willing to take one for the team.
9 comments
Holy hell, that is a lot of butter. Can I do it? Can I get over the guilt? Yes, I believe I can.
Also, I like Barefoot Contessa quite a bit, and the way I discovered that show/cookbook was when we were eating at a friend’s house and she served us a soup made from a BC recipe. It was SO unbelievably yummy - I don’t know if you guys have La Madeline cafes up there, but La Madeline has this tomato basil soup that is to die for. Unfortunately, you might, actually, die FROM it, because it has something like one billion grams of fat and a trillion calories. In a single serving. However, when our friend made the BC version of this soup, although it did have a lot of butter and heavy cream called for, she cut the portions down and substituted (much like you’re planning on doing) and it was SO EXTREMELY wonderful. I doubt I would have ever known it wasn’t full fat if she wouldn’t have told us.
Anyway, I think I need to get the BC cookbook, and just go ahead and figure that I’ll be subbing a lot of “healthier” dairy for the butter/heavy cream.
sounds delicious, decadent, and not at all diet-friendly!
That’s it. I’m stopping at the store on my way home and making this for dinner tonight. I can’t live with the thought of going one more day without tasting this lasagna.
Remind me to give you Tim’s mom’s lasagna recipe. It’s a traditional red sauce and meat lasagna, and it’s positively delicious. (And easy!)
Nigella drives me crazy, too! What is it about her that you don’t like? I can’t put my finger on my dislike, but I always find myself very irritated at her show.
I LOVE Ina! And Alton, and Giada, and Michael Chiarello. Heck, I even like some Rachael Ray recipes, just as long as I don’t have to watch her braying at me from my tv. This lasagna sounds absolutely heavenly.
Oh, and a definite highlight of my trip was going to this cook’s-warehouse sort of store in Atlanta, where I am POSITIVE I have seen Good Eats footage. I kept hoping that I might bump into him in the ramekin aisle.
mmm thanks for the new recipe! it sounds absolutely delicious!!! i’ve never tried making lasagna before but if you’ve managed to pull it off on your first attempt i think i should give it a chance too. i’m absolutely drooling.
I love that the Food Network brought back the Iron Chefs for Iron Chef America. I don’t think that I’ve learned a single recipe or cooking technique from the show, but I sure have fun watching it. The more recent episodes, anyway.
We will not speak about William Shatner’s tenure as chairman.
Ina is definitely my favorite. I could watch her cook all day. Now if only I could have an herb garden like her!!
I could watch Food Network all day, every day. I love it. EXCEPT Bobby Flay. I cannot stand his pompous attitude! As much as I love the shows on FN, I have only tried one of their recipes once. It was great and so was yours so obviously I need to do more FN recipe searching!
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