Our retake of lasagna.
We are gonna make this very meaty sauce for our lasagna
using the wide world of mushrooms.
For the lasagna, I have par boiled these guys
for seven minutes so they're undercooked.
They're cooked like kind of halfway.
So, we already have our pasta par cooked,
soft enough that we can manipulate it.
I'm gonna make this entire lasagna in a cast iron skillet
instead of in a big square dish.
For the depth of flavor in the mushroom sauce,
we are using a combination of dried mushrooms and fresh.
The dry mushrooms, the porcini come back to life
when you simmer them and steep them.
I used my vegetable stock for this
and then you have the benefit of a fortified vegetable stock
to add to your sauce as well and in this pan,
I took a carrot, an onion and a little garlic
after the carrot and onion cooked out
and then you turn the heat up a bit
and add your collection of mushrooms.
I was just finishing with the hen of the woods.
Now you can use any selection you like.
When it comes to something fun, like the hen of the woods
or something super tender like these guys here,
you literally can rip them off with your hands.
We always want to cook mushrooms
from the state of being dry, not too wet
and we want them to get to this point
where their color has developed and their fragrance
has developed before you add salt.
We add the salt after the mushrooms brown
because salt draws out liquid and we want them to get
that super meaty flavor going.
We're going to add some fresh thyme
'cause these are mushrooms and we're going to add
a little squirt of tomato paste
so it can cook out and we're going to add
those beautiful reconstituted porcini.
Throw those guys in.
So Italian white wine,
(audience applause)
about a cup and we let that cook out a bit
and once that is absorbed, we're going to add
about the same amount of full fat milk,
half and half or cream.
We're also going to let a little bit of fresh tomato cookout
or you can buy one small can of diced or crushed tomato
and this one is fully cooked out
with everything we just did and the cream.
So, we add a little torn basil at the very end
right before we assemble the lasagna.
So, we have this creamy gorgeous sauce.
You can go skimpy on the bottom.
You're just trying to give a little bit
of zhuzh to the bottom of the pan
so when people get down to the bottom layer
it's literally not sticking to the pin
and for one pound of pasta
you can use a 12 inch cast iron skillet
and that'll work out pretty close to right.
Now, here's the fun part about pre-cooking partially,
you can get creative and just rip 'em up as you need to
to fill the pan.
It looks rustic and kind of sexy at the end
and it'll fit perfectly without having to use a square pan.
We just boob, slide 'em in there.
(audience applause)
I have pecorino and parm.
The pretty edges.
Now, I'm talking to the lasagna as if it's my dog.
(audience laughing)
Bella's having spa day today,
she comes home so exhausted as if somebody sent her to work.
(audience laughing)
It's hilarious.
She's just like (Rachael sighing)
that was a lot.
(audience laughing and applauding)
And when I say spa day, I mean spa day.
She gets blueberry facials.
She gets her teeth brushed, her toenails clipped.
(audience laughing)
It's a lot.
Okay and a lot of our cheese.
(audience applauding)
The oven is at 400 with the rack at center.
We pop this sucker in until it's bubbly
and a little bit of flat leaf parsley when we're done,
a few more little leaves of torn basil
and in Italy we finish everything with more olive oil
(audience applauding)
and I like a low crush red pepper flake.
So there you go.
At-da! (audience applauding)