Do you ever have those days where inspiration fails to strike you? Where you’re sitting waiting for the words to flow from your fingers but you remain blocked and your fingers unmoving? Where you look at the sky for raindrops of inspiration to fall on you searching out the clouds but none appear? Well I was having one of those days when I made this lasagna.
I considered not posting this up because the photos weren’t exactly appealing. I find lasagne hard to photograph at the best of times but a mushroom coloured one with a limited colour palette was particularly challenging. But the proof was in Mr NQN’s reaction to it. He wolfed it down within minutes and asked for more.
It was a recipe based on an Ina Garten one-a simple lasagna with mushrooms and bechamel sauce but with added garlic which always adds so much to mushrooms. I made it a smaller lasagna to feed two people too so feel free to double the recipe for a family sized lasagna. I used some leftover lasagna sheets that I had from a lasagna experiment gone totally wrong and pushed it into the oven with a sigh echoing the sigh that I was feeling the whole day. Sometimes days are just a sigh…
I pulled it out of the oven and looked at it. It smelled great but it didn’t transform into a cake or anything so I wasn’t particularly excited. Even spearing some while hot it was good but the trick with this lasagna is to eat it when it isn’t piping hot. Allow it to cool a bit, longer is better and it is absolutely delicious when lukewarm. Yes some days are just lukewarm days but even those lukewarm days are ok.
So tell me Dear Reader, what do you do on lukewarm days? And how do you find inspiration or conquer writer’s block?
Mushroom Lasagna
Adapted from a recipe by Ina Garten. Serves 2.
- 450g/1 pound mushrooms
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- oil for frying
- 50g/1.7ozs butter
- 4 tablespoons plain all purpose flour
- 2 cups milk, warmed
- a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 150g dried oven ready lasagna sheets (5 sheets)
- 1/2 cup reggiano cheese
- salt and pepper
1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Brush mushrooms clean with a pastry brush and slice finely. Chop garlic too. Heat a saucepan or cast iron pot on medium heat and fry the mushrooms and garlic in two batches. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
2. I use the same pot for the bechamel sauce. Using a flat bottomed wooden spoon or spatula, melt the butter and then add the flour and cook for a minute making sure that the flour doesn’t stick to the bottom. Then gradually add the milk (I find it easiest to take the pot off the heat to do this) until the milk is combined and the mixture is smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Grease a small rectangular pan. Even though the lasagna sheets don’t require boiling, as this isn’t quite as liquid as a tomato sauce, I wet the sheets individually under cold water just to help them become softer. In a tray add some of the bechamel sauce, then add a moistened lasagna sheet. Then top with mushrooms, then another sheet, then more bechamel and so on until you have one lasagna sheet left. Add more bechamel on this and then sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. Lasagna is easier to cut once it has cooled down a bit.
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96 Comments | Add your own
Im in a glut of uninspirational days – hence no posts
but if you think your photos aren’t appealing, well I just dont know what to say to that. DELISH! (how good is fresh nutmeg!)
T x
Scrumptious! Very autumnal.
Cheers,
Rosa
I thought mushroom lasagna is inspired! Based on customer reaction it certainly hit the mark:) Talking about inspiration raindrops it rained a little here literally and it did inspire me a little:)
Looks delicious, Lorraine!
Yum, yum!!! I love lasagne! The cheesier the better!!
Oh snap! I made lasagna last night for dinner tonight. It certainly doesn’t look as awesome as this one, I have to say. I have started to fill the freezer in anticipation of baby’s arrival and lasagna seemed like a great idea. We’ll have one for dinner tonight and there are two more in the freezer.
Lukewarm days are hard. I like the soothing comfort of winter food or the fresh crispness of summer fare. In between food usually lacks inspiration. I am quite partial to an asparagus risotto in Spring though…
K xx
Your lasagna looks wonderful and sounds delish! Beautiful site!
Blessings, Catherine
This looks positively delightful! But yes, dishes like lasagne are always hard to photograph!
Nice vegetarian lasagne, I like the idea of mushrooms, maybe a would add a few porcini though, I like my mushrooms to taste ‘intense’, pity that they cost an arm and a leg here in NZ!
I got a blog candy on now, if you are interested, can win a copy of Party Food for Girls
.
Ciao
A.
lasagne is one of my favourites..and this looks good..i can imagine it with a nice glass of red..in a past life when i had to write a lot my house benefitted from the days when i struggled with words because i would do a bit of cleaning and then go back to the computer and then a bit more cleaning and so on..and sometimes this would go on for days..
It’s ok, you had me at the truffle. On a cold and wet day like today, there’d be nothing more comforting than something like this.
I don’t think I particularly deal with lack of motivation or inspiration very well. When I used to work, I did a lot of report writing and after a while it got very mundane, dry and difficult to get started. I used to procrastinate and surf the internet. I guess that’s no help to you. There’s nothing like an imminent deadline approaching to motivate you though!
Mmmm, ‘shroom lasagane – looks delicious! I am glad you posted it. I have plenty of days when I lack inspiration – the kind when you just want to go back to bed and forget about the world for a while.
Looks delish Lorraine – just what I feel like for lunch today, methinks
This looks delicious! Not overly picturesque, you’re right. But ugly food is oh so yummy. Lukewarm days can be frustrating. I just try to go away & do something that makes me smile – usually dancing around to happy music
then come back to the task fresh!
Heidi xo
You know, I’m not the biggest fan of mushrooms but that looks delicious.
I look for new inspiration often. I tend to ask friends and family for food ideas then go from there. Create something new!
mmmm just what I feel like on a cold day
I can almost taste it now… not fair!
YUMMO! cheese and mushrooms a match made in food heaven!
Oh Lorraine …. i think the pics look lovely really all cheesy and golden … i love mushies and agree with them being perfect with garlic but i don’t like them drowned in oil …anyway yes not writers block but i do have lukewarm days … just go with the flow we are all meant to have these sort of times anyway
Really keen to try this recipe. I love, love, love mushrooms & a mushroom lasagna sounds perfect!
I like to bake & read on lukewarm days. Sunshine on those days are a bonus.
YUM this sounds just what is needed on a lukewarm day…along with plenty of chocolate pudding afterwards
LOVE roasted garlic and mushroom together. And bechamel sauce. Yummmm…
Some days are just I sigh I totally agree… xo
I completly understand you. Guess what, on the weekend I made lasagna for my family, I made some photos…but no one was as I wanted to be, no one had the smell on it, which is the best part of a lasagna. I’m still waiting for inspiration to put it in a post…
YUM! i love mushroom lasagna!
Good lord that looks delicious. I think you WERE inspired!!!
I’m not surprised Mr NQN wolfed this down! On lukewarm days, I mooch around the kitchen, open the fridge and cupboards repeatedly looking for SOMETHING to jump out and inspire me. I then hang around the kids until they firmly shove me out their rooms, then my husband who’ll push me out of the shed- then, satisfied I’ve halved my miseries by spreading them around the ones I love, I’ll walk lighter, stand straighter and whistle while I whip up something amazing in the kitchen for my unaccountably grumpy family
So very similar to my favorite lasagna…mine just has tomato too. I love the mushroom version so much I don’t care to go back to red sauce and meat for a filling…this is better!
What do I do. Well, for dinner I have no qualms about breakfast. We might do eggs, bacon and toast or pancakes. I call it Brinner!
I never get writer’s block. I sit down and just write. Might be short, might be meaningful but it just sort of comes out as I pull the post elements together. Writing is not my favorite thing…cooking is, so guess I just don’t stress about it at all.
Spooky!! I was reading through a mushroom lasagne recipe last night and considering making it soon!
When inspiration doesn’t seem to be forth-coming i try not to stress too much about it and consider these moments ‘recovery time’ as the body and mind needs rest to perform at its peak!
This looks so good especially on a rainy day like today. I often bake when I’m having one of those lukewarm type days. It makes me smile
Mushrooms rate high on my list of food likes, I adore them. I find them comforting and like the idea of adding them to what I regard as a comfort dish, lasagna. I think this dish will end up being served up for one of our meatless Mondays.
Hoorah!! Thank you….on a farm and cant be bothered driving 50km to town today and all I have left in fridge apart from the staples are mushies!! All set….looks delicious. Cheers NQN!
Looks beautifully delicious to me, Lorraine!!! Hope your day picks up some heat:) I don’t like lukewarm days:(
Defeinitely have lukewarm days. Very sluggish and just plain meh. I find cooking helps thought and this lasagne looks a perfect pick me up. As for writres block, I have no idea. I sually leave it and come back to it in a couple of days haha
Well I think it looks quite nice. I love mushrooms and this would be beautiful. Sometimes I get writers block and just cant shake it. You’ve moved on well.
Lorraine wonderful lasagna and I don’t mind if the pics aren’t “perfect”.
Also great idea to do it with mushrooms an interesting variant of the traditional!
Cheers,
Gera
Well, Lorraine – to me this looks totally appealing
! I love a vegetarian lasagna and your nifty two-person portion! Got some mushrooms coming in the pm delivery: hm, bears thinking about!! Husband dear No 2 taught me to handle the lukewarm days: ‘Darling, let’s cancel the day’ – and, indeed we’d go and do s’thing totally unplanned and fun. [Unfortunately for us, he DID have the habit of cancelling too many of them ;( !] To get out of writer’s block I go for a walk and ‘smell the roses’ – usually come back with too many ideas to put down!! Have a lovely weekend!
That looks divine!
This looks beyond delicious!!
Hi Lorraine, I think anything with melted cheese on top looks delicous! Will certainly give this recipe a go.
fantastico! I’m making it NOW!
Thank you. See, there is no accounting for taste!
Thanks for posting a great vegetarian recipe. And don’t worry about the photos – they look great to me!
When I get writers block I just sit it out! Go and do something fun and make use of my time, instead of just staring at the screen like a deer in headlights! What did you do with the truffle shavings? I noticed you didn’t mention anything about them – checking to see if people are paying attention, perhaps?
hehe. I would imagine they would taste lovely just shaved over the lasagne, mmmmmm. I think your photos are lovely, you’ve set up a slightly rustic style set, there! Jamie Oliver would be proud 
I normally procrastinate when I have writer’s block. It’s terrible! No real solution other than telling myself to get on with it.
On lukewarm days, if I don’t have anything seriously pressing to do I’ll pick a little something fun and do that. Normally that cures me (and normally it involves cooking!).
Considering you had writer’s block and weren’t feeling that inspired, it still all came together nicely. Sometimes a bike ride by the lake on a sunny day can get those creative thoughts stirring. Happy cooking!
—Dear, Lorraine,
Is there anything that you can’t cook? This looks Incredible. I love all those lush Mushrooms. Oh, MYYYYY. You are Amazing.
It still looks delicious! the perfect thing to eat on a sigh day – you’d better send one over to my workplace
Sigh! Yes…this looks delish.
Thank you Lorraine. Another beautiful, sensitive post 
On lukewarm days I tend to “sigh” a lot…but baking is usually therapeutic. And where do i look for inspiration? Not Quite Nigella of course!
omg how potent is this melts….
i love mushrooms… and lasanga yum! def. something to put on my to do list
Before I read this post I thought that it looked absolutely delicious! – I can’t believe you don’t think it looks appealing! Maybe a ‘meh’feeling for your ‘meh’day!
Can’t wait to make this!
Oh I love mushrooms, and the fresh grated nutmeg – I can imagine how delicious this tastes!
I must say I felt a bit better after reading even you have had that lack of inspiration. Just last night I was sitting with the laptop trying to start that first sentence! Sometimes writing the middle helps me, and knowing I can go back and add or change
Oh, this post is way too pertinent right now! I’m exhausted, sick, and really struggling to make myself write a post today. Particularly as I have to psych myself up to go to Dylan Moran’s show tonight, in about two hours, and I’m still moping like a convalescent at my parents’ house. I think I won’t write, actually… unless you want to guest post for me. YAY!
P.S. It always scares me how much nutmeg looks like brains inside.
Mmmmm mushroom lasagne!!! I actually love a good vegetable lasagne.. loads of eggplant YUM!
Thanks, lovely lasagne. I made this one with zuccini equal amounts to mushrooms and it was a good marriage.
To chase away painters’ Block, I usually walk – alot- walk until tired and then walk back. Have a hot bath, good nights sleep and I’m back in business. Sometimes one has to get out of their head to resume life!
Wow, you’ve just inspired me – this looks perfect
That lasagne looks utterly rich and comforting – perfect for the rather blah week I’ve been having so far.
On days when writer’s block hits in a very serious way, it’s either I call my mother on the phone or I sit somewhere quiet, plug into my iPod, and laugh myself silly over Shameless or Starter for Ten. :p
That lasagne looks like the perfect mood enhancer,I can smell the aromas wafting through the picture and out of my screen…
On days where inspiration is scant, I try to be out doors or just peolple gaze-sit at your fav cafe-tea spot and observe peoples expressions..I come up with scenarios for each of them in my head -its very entertaining!
The nicest thing to do on luke warm days for me is to walk into a florist and look for a particular blossom that strikes me breathless-the next thing i’m with flower and bow in hand!
Wishing you all the flare and inspiration to dazzle you from WB..
Sia
Going for a walk is usually enough to pick me up – especially when I am in Italy. There is always something wonderful to see and write about.
Today is the day i just want my history essay to write itself. sigh.
love vegetarian pasta…add pasta and cheese to ANYTHING and it’s gorgeous!
Lukewarm days are for having a nap, resting our little brains and refreshing ourselves
I love lasagne, as do my kids. But they KNOW when I don’t use meat … Mr 10 loves mushrooms, so I may get this one past him.
I love Ina Garten and I love mushroom lasagna, but have never seen this recipe before. Thanks for sharing. I will have to try this!!!
mmmm yum yum yum. I absolutely loveeee mushrooms. thanks for the recipe
hmm i’ve never tried fresh nutmeg before. this loooks scrrrumptious!
Mmm mushroom lasagne! I am so INTO mushrooms right now – and I didn’t even like them for the first 20 years of my life! This sounds amazing
It looks delicious, so thank you sharing with us – thank heavens for Mr NQN wolfing it down! When I’m having a lukewarm day, I look forward to reading Ms NQN’s latest update
)
yummy cheesy, juicy and earthy lasagna!
My younger brother who has turned Vegetarian in the last few years would love this Lorraine. However, my youngest daughter would run the other way, she cannot even stomach the smell of mushrooms!
When I have a block or lukewarm day pertaining to food or have no idea what to dish up for dinner, I generally peruse a few of my cookbooks, or consult your lovely blog for inspiration. It may take a while but it works in the end.
WAO,I LOVE MUSHROODELICACIES
It looks so delicious, buy I know what you mean… What exactly do you say when things are not bubbling forth…
When I am stumped for ideas (like I am at the moment) I love to read fellow bloggers and get some inspiration. I think your mushroom lasagna looks fabulous!!
Ha ha. Love that you wanted it to transform into a cake!!!
sounds like you just didn’t know you were inspired! I know what you mean about not eating it piping hot – I often find myself tasting things I make for dinner when they have cooled and getting a much better sense of their taste – though surely you can’t go wrong with lasagna!
nom nom nom ^^
maybe adding porcini would be nice too ^^
I think your photos are great! They made me kind of wish I could have a bite or two!
Don’t you just love Ina? She’s my favorite of the “celebrity” chefs. I want to be her next door neighbor!
I absolutely love mushrooms and bechamel sauce…this would surely be a winner in our house. And I beg to differ, Lorraine, your photos have an incredible appetite appeal. So hungry right now!
yummmm, it looks absolutely delishhhh!
what a great dish
I’ve made this dish too and love it!
Wow!! perfecto! I made this last night. Simply delicious! Found some beautiful mushrooms at the market yesterday and your recipe had been in my mind. ‘Pictured’ the dinner there before me, using your fabulous recipe and the lovely fresh mushrooms…can I help you? Yes please!! I’ll have a Kilo….!
Reminded me of a recipe in Gretta Anna’s C’Book with the same filling but rolled up as a strudle in lovely crispy filo. It made a perfect lunch with fresh salad.
Thank you so much! Susie Q
Thanks for everyone’s lovely comments!
They definitely turn a lukewarm day into a sunny day! xxx
Susie, I’m so glad that you enjoyed it! And it sounds like you found the mushrooms just at the right time too!
You’re very welcome!
I’m usually too impatient to wait for lukewarm. Especially if it’s bread or lasagna. Sounds like this one is worth waiting for. xoxo Mum
I love fresh nutmeg and can’t seem to get enough mushrooms at the moment. I might make this during the week!
Oh..Lorraine!
Just had to mention we have plenty left over for lunch today too! + lovely glass of wine to accompany.
Susie Q
Thank goodness you decided to post the photos! They look amazing, and I LOVE lasagna. I’ve loved it ever since primary school, when it was the only thing I’d order from the canteen on the few days that I was allowed to have a tuckshop lunch!
For some strange reason, vegetarian lasagna is very hard to find! Whenever I go to delis or small cafes for lunch, they always only have meat lasagnas. So thanks for posting!
I agree with you totally that lukewarm lasagna is best – and it is even better reheated after a day in the fridge. Glad inspiration struck you Lorraine!
veggie lasagna ? why not to switch for a change !! good idea !!pierre
I think yours is the best looking bechamel based lasagna I’ve ever seen. I will always eat some within a few minutes out of the oven, but seconds are always a nice, lukewarm hunk. Even better the next day! Definitely have to try this!
Oh you are too funny with the wishing it would transform into cake. It looks quite lovely to me but I do know the feeling you are talking about. Luckily for me I do not need to come up with something fabulously witty and interesting every day. If I’m lacking in inspiration I fall back on tried and true favorites like my triple chocolate cookies.
Ohhh the cross section of that lasagne looks soooooo good!!! Melting, warm goodness!! Yum!
I have just done one of these for a client and thought I would blog it as well…great minds think alike! Yours looks amazing!
I go on the internet and look up all sorts of things that I am interested and that usually gives me some inspiration.
I totally understand the sigh/lukewarm days. I get those and there is not much to do except wait for the next day to come. Then again, with a lasagna like this the day would be a pretty good one…
i’ve never eaten a mushroom i liked, but the combo of bechamel + nutmeg has a power over me…
Made this for our tea tonight. I can confirm – this is delicious. Already looking forward to next time.
Mushrooms, garlic, pasta and creamy sauce? Sounds like a winning combination to me!
You won’t want to hear this but on’ lukewarm’ days I find the best thing is exercise. I’m not a sporty person but it really does lift my mood and clear my mind
I love mushrooms! Will have to give this one a try! The kids love creamy stuff so it’s win-win!!!
I think your photos are fab! Lasagna is so tricky to photograph, especially when warm. Much easier once it’s cooled I think.
Love the idea of a mushroom lasagna, bookmarked to try.
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