Vegetarian Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna

Have a large crowd gathering for the holidays? Or did you sign up to bring a main dish to a pot luck feast?

Consider a lasagna. It’s hearty, filling, and feeds a multitude.

People will love you if you bring a lasagna. (Or they should love you if they have any idea how much work goes into making one.)

Be warned though, if you bring a lasagna that is especially good, they may ask for it again, for every pot luck, or for every holiday feast.

They’ll get that puppy dog look in their eyes when they look at you and say, “oh, how about that lasagna, it’s so good, could you bring that?”

And you’ll be slightly annoyed because, perhaps you were hoping to squeeze by with a simple potato salad, even though you signed up for a main.

But then you’ll think about how good the lasagna is and how much you want some too, and then it’s just an excellent excuse to make it again.

Now this particular lasagna is a vegetarian lasagna, which can be especially helpful around holiday meals when you are trying to figure out what to serve cousin Judy and uncle Joe who won’t eat turkey, goose, roast beef, or whatever the main meat dish is of the meal.

It’s doubly helpful the days after the big feast when you still have friends and relatives around who need to be fed, and you don’t want to serve leftover turkey for every meal.

This vegetarian lasagna fits that bill too, in that it is so filled with meaty shiitake and cremini mushrooms, spinach, and ricotta and Mozzarella cheeses, your meat-eating guests will be fighting for seconds with the vegetarians.

Hopefully they’ll remember to leave some for you!

Vegetarian Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna Recipe

The first thing I do to start making this recipe is to get a big pot of salted water heating for the pasta, and defrost the spinach. While this is happening you can prep the mushrooms and cheeses.

Use high quality tomato sauce for best results.

If fresh basil is not available for layering in the casserole, add 2 teaspoons of dried basil to the sauce.

Ingredients

Sauce:

• 1 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, roughly chopped
• Salt
• 1 generous cup of chopped onions
• 1/4 cup olive oil plus more for keeping the noodles from sticking to each other
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped (about 4 teaspoons)
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (I recommend Muir Glen brand with added basil)
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp sugar

Lasagna:

• 2 10-ounce boxes frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed in clean towel of excess moisture
• 1 lb lasagna noodles (16 to 20 noodles)
• 1 15-or-16-ounce container of ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 pound pecorino cheese (or Parmesan), grated (about 1 cup)
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 cups)

• Special equipment needed: 1 large casserole pan, preferably 10x15-inches

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