Ingredients for 6-8 people (for a 28 x 35 cm rectangular oven dish):1 carrot1 onion1 stalk of celery2 cloves of garlic1 hot chilli pepper (fresh or dried)500 g mixed fresh mushrooms (button mushrooms and other types in season)30 g dried porcini mushrooms1 bunch of parsley3 sausages1 jar sun-dried cherry tomatoes (190 g)½ glass dry white wine80 g grated pecorino cheese1½ packets lasagne containing 250 g each (used either precooked or “raw”, as you prefer, see note),
or fresh lasagne
100 g butter1 l milk100 g flour1 tbsp grated nutmeg salt
First of all, bring the milk to the boil and pour a little into the saucepan with the flour and butter while still boiling; mix thoroughly and then gradually add the rest, stirring constantly. Cook for approximately 10 minutes, over a very low heat, taking care that the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat off and season with salt and nutmeg. Put the béchamel to one side and, to avoid a “skin” forming on top, cover the surface with cling film.
Now put the dried porcini mushrooms in cold water to soak for about 30 minutes. In the meanwhile, sauté the finely diced vegetables and finely chopped parsley leaves over a low heat. After a couple of minutes add the sausages, “skinned” and broken up with a fork, and continue sautéing. Now add the cleaned and coarsely chopped mushrooms (leave a few of the smaller ones whole, for a more intense flavour). Don’t add salt (the sun-dried tomatoes are already salty).
Cook over a lively heat and pour in ½ a glass of white wine; add the porcini mushrooms, removed from the water, squeezed out well and chopped. Continue cooking over a medium-low heat until the liquid has evaporated, then lower the heat, continuing to stir; add the sun-dried tomatoes, strained of their oil and chopped. Leave to cook for another 10 minutes over a low heat, stirring continuously; remove from the heat and add the chopped parsley – the sauce is ready. Use a ladle to spread some sauce in the bottom of a baking pan greased with a little oil; add a ladle of béchamel on top, then some grated cheese and the (precooked) lasagne; carry on in the same way until you have used all the ingredients. Finish off with sauce and cheese. Bake in a preheated oven, at 180 °C, for roughly 25-30 minutes.
Note: dried lasagne sheets can be cooked in two different ways. The first is by using them “raw”: you spread a layer of sauce in the bottom of the baking pan, then a layer of béchamel, 4 lasagna sheets (o however many fit) and a sprinkling of cheese, then you continue until all the ingredients are finished (the béchamel and/or other sauce must be more liquid). The pan goes in a preheated oven, at 180 °C, for roughly 30-40 minutes. The second way is the more traditional one: you cook the lasagna sheets in boiling water for 8-10 minutes (one or two at a time), strain them with a slotted spoon, cool them from a few seconds in a bowl of cold water, lay them out on a clean cloth to dry them a little, and then proceed with the “layers” as described above. In this case 20-25 minutes in the oven are sufficient, and the béchamel and/or other sauce will be thicker.