18th day without meat | Mushroom lasagna

Dear cupcakes,
Today is my 18th day as a (temporary) vegetarian.
Not that I'm counting...
I just wanted to start off with a straight fact.

During this short amount of time I already learned a flippin' lot!




I learned that chickpeas should sleep {soak} overnight in a bowl of water. Chopped mushrooms have kinda the texture of meat; which is great knowledge when you have carnivore friends over for dinner. I learned to marinate tofu in a lot (!) of flavors. I also know I should ask an italian sandwich without the prosquito {it hurts me every time} at the sandwichbar.  Chicken is meat. Roast chicken is still meat {;bummer}. But most of all I know now that vegetarian isn't latin for 'suffering'. It can be satisfying, healthy, good for the environment but also {and maybe most of all}; Delicious!

I didn't share that many vegetarian recipes with you over the past couple of weeks.
This is not because I wasn't busy in the kitchen.
It may or may not be due to the fact that I tend to eat faster than I shoot pictures.

Mushrooms: before

Mushroom lasagna
Inspired by Vegalicious Yields enough for 2 hungry persons 

white sauce:
30 g butter

Mushrooms: after.

30 g plain flour
1/2 l milk

tomato sauce:
2 tomatoes diced and pitted.
1 bay leave

Mushrooms:
30 g butter
1 brown onion, diced
1 garlic clove; finely chopped
300 g finely chopped mushrooms.
1 handfull of basil leaves


250 g store-bought fresh or dried lasagna sheets
4 TBSP parmesan cheese
1 boll of mozzarella
P & S

mushrooms:

one: add the butter to a large pan and set it on medium heat. 

two: add the chopped onion and cook until glassy, then add the chopped garlic and leave for a bit longer. 

three: add the finely {!} chopped mushrooms to the onion and garlic and cook until they are just going soft {don't let them color yet}.

tomato sauce: 

one: heat the olive oil in a small pan over medium heat.
two: add the garlic and tomatoes and simmer for 25 minutes.
three: stir in the bay leave and add salt and pepper to taste, then simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leave.

white sauce:

one: melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a low heat; 

two: add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes until combined. 

three: remove from the heat and gradually add milk, stirring until smooth. 

four: return to the heat and slowly bring to the boil over a gentle heat, cook for 10 minutes until sauce starts to thicken. Season with salt and pepper.

lasagna:

one: preheat the oven to 180°C (365°f) and butter your baking dish.

two: cook the lasagna sheets in batches in rapidly boiling water until al-dente {tender}. This should take between 30 seconds and 2 minutes per lasagna-sheet. {Read the box for instructions or trust your guts.}

three: spoon in the baking dish a layer of mushrooms. Sprinkle over some basil leaves and top with cooked lasagna sheets.

four: spoon over some tomato sauce and again; top with cooked lasagna sheets. Add a layer of the white sauce and top with another layer of lasagna sheets. 

five: continue to layer {mushrooms - white sauce - tomato sauce - white sauce - mushrooms - white sauce - ... } finishing with a layer of cheese.

six: cook for 35 to 40 minutes until bubbling and golden on top.

note: Make sure the layers aren't too thick, a lot of thin layers is much better than little thick layers.

second note: If you end up with some extra sautéed mushrooms, don't panic and throw them together with some balsamico in a simple rucola salad.

final note: I'm having a serious fight with the blogger-following function. He's winning. So if you want to keep updated {or if you simply like what you see} please join the facebookpage! 

 Music to pair with: Nina simone - Feeling good

Enjoy!

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