This is a delicious dish that’s easy to make using most kinds of mushrooms, particularly porcini (ceps), oyster mushrooms, chicken of the woods, and any other firm textured fungi. I’ve put both carnivore and vegetarian options.
Ingredients
1 pack fresh lasagne sheets
3-4 large porcini
1 pack Parma ham/pancetta
or 1 small bunch of asparagus
1 wedge Parmesan cheese
50g butter
50g flour
500ml milk
Salt, black pepper, pink pepper, bay leaf and ground nutmeg.
Directions
Put spices in milk, bring to boil then remove from gas and leave to infuse for 10 minutes while you thinly slice your porcini.
Grate your Parmesan ideally in a mill or food processor.
Melt butter in a saucepan over a low heat, add flour to make a paste then slowly add the milk stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Add half the Parmesan and check it is well seasoned. You should end up with a medium thick béchamel sauce. I particularly like the addition of a generous amount of freshly grated nutmeg and black pepper.
Put some béchamel in the bottom of an ovenproof dish, then sheets of lasagne, then béchamel, then a layer of porcini, salt and pepper, followed by a layer of Parma ham or split, trimmed asparagus (or both!), a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, then another layer of béchamel, another layer of lasagne sheets and so on.
Once you reach the top of your dish finish with a layer of béchamel, then sprinkle with Parmesan and dot on some slices of butter.
Put in a medium hot oven (190C) for half an hour until cooked through and brown on the top.
Serve with a wild rocket, watercress and sorrel salad or other late wild edible greens. For salad dressing mix olive oil with some elderberry balsamic vinegar infused with a clove of crushed garlic.
Serves 6-8
The following pictures are of a hen of the woods lasagne with streaky pancetta bacon and Parmesan.
For extra umami add one layer of pre soaked dulse seaweed!
