Lasagne and vegetarians (cream of mushrooms)

In these summer days the PhD absorbs so many hours of my life that I gradually lose the sense of reality, becoming part of the Middle-ages texts I am reading. I feel an excruciating nostalgia due the distance from Italy, not because of the Sun that strangely enough I do not appreciate much, yet because my girlfriend is there. When all the couples have the chance to spend more time together for their holidays, it is even more difficult to live your own self-inflicted exile with dignity: nonetheless I told to myself there was a way in which beyond the mails, the letters, the phone calls, valets and pigeons I could have been closer to her, while waiting for my imminent going back. The solution I found is basically warming up my cooking engines, preparing recipes she might then fancy, dreaming the moment in which we shall cook together...

A pic from You me and Dupree (2006), with Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson,

here a clip from the movie:

Food, in my view, is a privileged channel through which one is able to vehicle his most tender feelings: nourishing the beloved person is like bringing her to life again every time. My girlfriend is not just adorable for herself, ça va sans dire the French would say, she is also smart, clever and vegetarian and I find particularly challenging to combine ingredients that match her vision of the world: it means being closer to her throughout the selection of the food, the experimentation of dishes. Together we cross new frontiers of taste, finding solutions to re-interpret traditional dishes.

Revitalize the porcini mushrooms*, 

wash the organic champignon mushrooms,

keep their stem, AND BIG CHALLENGE

prepare béchamel and fight with its lamps! 

How? Stir continuously:

Béchamel:

• a knob of butter (30 gr), a table spoon of white flour
• a pinch of salt (10 gr), white pepper (so to keep the colour clear)
• and a sprinkle of nutmeg
• then pour gradually the whole organic milk (500 ml)
• 50 gr of grated Parmigiano (or a reasonable alternative)
• prevent yourself from eating it all while adjusting the seasoning!!!

The chromatics given by the extra-virgin olive oil

and the thyme are absolutely beautiful:

this thyme has an aftertaste of lemon, which

is exalted brilliantly by the combination

with mushrooms.

Chop the mushrooms,

let them go for 5 mins

Let them grow again for 10 mins in warm water,

which you should keep because of its flavor:

if you have fresh ones is even better.

The mushrooms will start wither, add the Porcini

mushrooms and a glass of white wine will suit well

(a Pinot Grigio or a Chardonanny),

correct salt, black pepper, and parsley

When the whine is gone, add the Porcini mushrooms water,

avoiding to add the little deposit of sand

you will spot at the bottom of the bowl.

Let it go until the liquid is reduced in volume, 

but not completely gone

Mix béchamel and the mushrooms with a hand blender,

keep some béchamel and some mushrooms apart

for the final garnishment

Start alternating the cream you obtained with the layers 

of lasagne (I used some Trattoria Verdi one because it is not bad

at all, and it is more practical, but it should be highly preferable 

to prepare your own pastry).

Lasange shouldn't be in stripes,

but this was the easier way to explain the process.

The top layer can be covered in béchamel and mushrooms

and then generously sprinkled with the cheese

(you may had a knob of butter here and there)

After 25 mins in the oven at gas mark 8 (210ish °C) 

this is the result, but never trust blindly your oven.

This little portion of heaven lasted not too long,

but if the balance of tastes has been respected,

each chewing will produce an explosion of 

uncontrollable happiness,

a closer happiness to the one 

my heart experiments next to my girlfriend.

BUON APPETITO

You can actually use asparagus, artichokes or Savoy cabbage instead of the mushrooms, or combinations of these ingredients. These lasange will impress your palate and eventually your guests!

*This recipe costed me only 4,50£: 50 pennies for the milk, 20 pennies for the lasagne pastry (it was a reduced to clear), 1£ for the mushrooms, 2,80£ for the Porcini [http://www.waitrose.com/shop/ProductView-10317-10001-5532-Waitrose+Cooks%27+ingredients+dried+porcini+mushrooms].