1lbpuffball mushroom About the size of a canteloupe. Peeled and cut into ½ inch slices.
Flavorless cooking oilas needed for cooking the puffballs
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepperto taste
Tomato sauce Yields 3 cups, I used about half (save it for reheating)
1 32ouncecan whole peeled tomatoes
1tablespoonminced fresh garlic
1small yellow oniondiced to yield ½ cup
¼cupextra virgin olive oil
2-3large leaves of fresh basiltorn
Kosher saltto taste
Pinchof crushed red pepper flakesoptional
¼cupdry white wine
Bechamel Sauce Yields 2.5 cups, I used about half (save it for reheating)
3tablespoonsunsalted butter
3tablespoonsall purpose flour
2cupswhole milk
¼cupgrated parmesan
Kosher saltto taste
Pinchof freshly ground nutmeg
Spinach-Ricotta Filling
1lbspinachblanched in boiling salted water, shocked in an ice bath and drained well, then chopped fine
1lbhighest quality ricotta cheese
1large egg
½lbsemi-firm mozzarellaor grated mozzarella, plus more for finishing the top of the lasagna
¼cupgrated parmesanplus more for finishing the top of the lasagna
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepperto taste
Instructions
Tomato Sauce
Heat the oil with the garlic and onions and cook until translucent on medium heat. Add the tomatoes, wine, basil, a pinch of salt and the red pepper flakes, then simmer the mixture gently for 30 minutes. Puree the mixture carefully in a highspeed blender while still hot, then pass through a fine chinois strainer (optional) and reserve until needed.
Bechamel
Melt the butter then add the flour to form a roux, cook on medium heat until it smells toasty, the add the milk in four separate ¼ cup additions, whisking well to make sure the milk is incorporated before adding the next ¼ cup. When all the milk has been added and the sauce has thickened nicely, remove it from the heat and whisk in the salt and nutmeg to taste, then the parmesan. Transfer the sauce to a container to cool.
Spinach filling
Mix all ingredients together until combined.
Assembling the Puffball Lasagna
First, cook the puffball slices. You can do this a number of different ways, but I like to rub them with oil or melted butter and cook each slice of puffball mushroom on the stove in a cast iron skillet, if you're in an apartment, you may want to open the windows and turn off the smoke detector for that. Alternately, grease and bake, or grill until wilted.
Preheat the oven to 350. When all the puffball slices are cooked, liberally spread the bottom of the baking dish with tomato sauce, and top with a ¼ cup or so of the bechamel.
Place a layer of sliced puffball mushroom on top, then top that with half of the spinach filling, then more tomato sauce and bechamel, then another layer of mushrooms, then the other half of the filling, then more tomato and bechamel, then another layer of mushrooms, then tomato, bechamel, and extra grated mozzarella and parmesan.
Baking
When the lasagna is assembled, bake, uncovered until hot throughout and the crust is golden brown, about 45 minutes. If your oven isn't browing the top, turn up the heat for a couple minutes until it's all golden crusty and delicious.
Notes
I used a 9 inch ceramic pie dish to make this, but you could use whatever baking dish you have, like or a cast iron skillet, etc, depending on how much you want to make.
Make sure to eat leftovers within 3 days, and label and date the container containing it.
Reheat leftover lasagna smothered with the extra tomato sauce and bechamel and baked.
After cooling and setting, the lasagna can be portioned and frozen.
If you want perfect slices, like I have pictured here, you'll need to cook and chill the lasagna a day in advance so it will set properly.
You can, of course, make the exact recipe, and it will be great, but you can also just use it as inspiration and make your own. With the variable size of puffballs, you might find yourself needing to make a giant, or smaller batch of lasagna.