Sabor Eats

Sabor for the kitchen & tea for the soul.
Sabor Eats is an experimental food blog created by Erica and Wasc, two students who love food, culture, and travelling.

Slow-cooker Shiitake and Bella Mushroom(s) Lasagna!

Making lasagna from scratch is a bit time consuming. It’s even worse when you have only one pot and need to cook the lasagna pasta and béchamel sauce. Feel free up the amount of mushrooms as you like. I certainly did because I looooove shiitake mushrooms. :D Also, for this lasagna recipe, since I also love the smell of sauteed onions, I probably used more than they called for—so please, use as much as you like!


-Erica

Slow-cooker Shiitake and Bella Mushroom(s) Lasagna (adapted from The New York Times)

Ingredients:

For the mushroom mix

  • 1 1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small onion (finely chopped)
  • 2-3 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 6 oz. bella/cremini/whatever mushrooms (thinly sliced)
  • 1/2 cup Sherry cooking wine
  • 1/4 cup cooking sake
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (I probably used 1 tbsp because I love thyme)
  • 1/2 cup of chicken stock
  • Salt and pepper to taste (MSG if you like! I did…)

For the béchamel

  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp minced shallots/onion
  • 2 tbsp wheat flour (I like to use wheat because it’s healthier, but you can use the same amount of white)
  • 2 cups milk (1-2% if you’re going for healthy/light)
  • A couple pinches of dried tarragon 
  • Salt and pepper to taste

For the lasagna setup

  • I have a 4 qt. slow cooker and I used probably 6 sheets of lasagna (broken into halves to fit)
  • 4 oz. Parmesan cheese (grated)
  • 1 ball mozzarella cheese (sliced mildly thin)



Recipe

  1. Boil about 2 cups of water. Pour hot water over the dried shiitake, making sure they are completely submerged in the water. Let them sit and soak around 30 minutes while you prepare.
  2. Heat large skillet to medium, add olive oil, onions. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until tender or golden color.
  3. Add garlic, stir 30 seconds
  4. Add bella mushrooms, then as soon as possible if you haven’t already…
  5. Remove the shiitake from the water, lightly squeeze out some excess water, roughly chop into smaller pieces and add to the skillet. (NOTE: Save the shiitake water!)
  6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Cook until mushrooms “sweat,” roughly 5 minutes.
  8. Add cooking Sherry and cooking Sake, then turn heat to High.
  9. Cook and stir until liquid is reduced and mushrooms look glazed.
  10. Add the thyme and the  3/4 of the “mushroom soaking liquid” and the chicken stock.
  11. Cook and stir until the liquid is reduced by a little more than half.
  12. Take off heat, or turn heat to very low.


  13. To make the béchamel, heat olive oil in a pot to medium and add the 2 tbsp shallot/onions until softened (3 minutes).
  14. Add flour and mix until it looks like “wet sand.” Be careful not to burn it.
  15. Add milk, bring to a simmer, whisk while simmering so the mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Even if you whisk well, there may be build-up on the bottom of the pot, so just scrape it off and out with your spatula)! :)
  16. Add tarragon.
  17. Whisk for 10-15 minutes until mixture is thick and creamy looking.
  18. Season with salt and pepper. Then slowly fold in the béchamel to the mushroom mixture.


  19. Boil lasagna in salted/seasoned water until almost completely soft (it can still be slightly firm because you will cook it some more anyway).
  20. Set up the slow cooker. Spread butter or spray oil to the bottom of the pot of the slow cooker, otherwise the bottom of you lasagna will become hard and burnt!
  21. Turn slow cooker to low while you spread the mushroom/béchamel mixture (1st layer) in the slow cooker.
  22. Top with a layer of lasagna pasta sheet. Alternate with mozzarella and mushroom/béchamel mixture, or place mozzarella over the mushroom/béchamel mixture, then with lasagna sheet until you have a satisfactory amount of layers.
  23. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan cheese over the final top lasagna layer and turn slow cooker to high for about 1.5 hours. Turn to low afterwards and cook for 1.5 hours. You should check on the lasagna every now and then to see if it gets finished cooking any sooner. :)
  1. saboreats posted this