Deconstructed Lasagne with Mushroom a Trois Sauce

This is what we are going to be talking about today...

Deconstructed Lasagne with a Mushroom a Trois Sauce

LOFT MADE lasagne was the basis and inspiration for this dish...

Rosemary and Thyme Pasta Sheets

Now that Mood Wine is up and running we are going to start offering more wine dinners and other fun tastings that club members (and friends of club members) can tap into. This last Saturday, we hosted a fundraiser for Caballeros (the gay mens chorus in Palm Springs). Two of the guests were vegetarian, so rather than come up with different options we did a vegetarian meal.

JUMP for more pictures and recipes from our first MOOD MINGLE WINE DINNER...


Before we delve into the recipe and method for the Pasta, Reduction, and Mushroom Sauce I wanted to show you a few pics of the actual dinner... YOU TOO COULD BE ENJOYING A MOOD MINGLE... starting with the first course Cutie Salad...

READY SET GO!!!

And of course the main course had to have the Fazeli Yalda with it...

"So tell us about this big red Rhone style blend Patrick"

And oh did the wine create a Mood for this meal...

Let's get this wine going!

And now about the meal....This was the menu:


Cutie Salad- you can find the original recipe using the link, I modified it for spring.

Cutie Salad for Spring

And the main course was the Deconstructed Lasagne with Mushroom a Trois Cream Sauce, finished with Port/Pinot Reduction.

Deconstructed Lasagna with a Mushroom a Trois Cream Sauce Finished with Port/Pinot Reduction

Pasta

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup semolina
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• 2 eggs
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• Water as needed to finish pasta

In a mixer with a bread paddle, combine flour, semolina, rosemary, and thyme – sift together. In another small bowl, combine eggs and olive oil, mix and add to flour mixture. Begin mixing dough and add small amounts of water until the dough is completely combined and resembling a firm, smooth ball. Continue kneading for about 5 minutes. Once done the dough should be firm, pliable and NOT to wet. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or brush some oil on the surface and cover with a cloth. Allow dough to rest for about 40 minutes (this allows the glutens in the dough to soften for easier rolling).

Once dough has rested you can either roll the dough in your pasta machine... ahem, I would be doing this had it not been for this sad little mishap - you can read about here - it's a pretty funny post with a great Whoopi moment...

Kitchen rags and pasta rollers don't mix...

... or use a hand roller...

Rolling the pasta

... rolling by hand is actually very easy...

Rolling and Rolling

And I loved the way the pasta rolled out doing it this way...

And Rolling Some More

Simply roll out the dough on a flour-dusted surface until you’ve rolled out thin sheets. Once done, cut pasta into thick strips, DUST WITH FLOUR and reserve for cooking...

Cutting Pasta into Wide Strips

Next get your reduction going...

Port-Pinot Noir Reduction

4 cups of port wine

4 cups of Pinot Noir

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

1 sprig of fresh thyme

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and begin heating on medium/high heat. Once wine begins to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until the wine reduces to a thick glaze. This will probably take about an hour or so. Keep watching the reduction, it will mostly boil away, but near the end it can rapidly reduce to nothing and you’ll have a sticky syrup on the bottom of your pan!

Mushroom a Trois Sauce

4 Portabella Mushrooms Sliced into thick sideway slices

2 tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter)

2 cups Shitake mushrooms chopped (I used dry mushroom that I rehydrated and reserved the soaking liquid for the sauce)

2 Cups Monterey white mushrooms (or any other type that calls to you)

1 large shallot minced

3 garlic cloves minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups white wine

½ cup dried cherries

¼ cup diced Mejool dates (optional for added sweetness)

2 cups heavy cream (or to your preference)

Goat Cheese for final plating

In a large skillet, heat ghee over med heat. Once pan is hot, add portabella mushrooms and sauté on each side until starting to soften and turn golden. Remove from heat and reserve for sauce.

Once portabellas are done, add the olive oil (or more ghee if you’re me) and once heated add shallots and garlic - sauté until starting to soften. Add shitake and Monterey mushrooms and continue sautéing (if needed add some water to keep pan from drying out). Sauté mushrooms until they are throwing their moisture and getting soft. Add minced herbs, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and add white wine to de-glaze the pan and add moisture for simmering, add sautéed portabellas. 

Reduce heat to low and allow mushroom mixture to simmer.  Once wine has reduced to almost nothing, add dried cherries, dates and heavy cream (add more wine if needed). Continue simmering on low heat to allow flavors to meld (about 15-20 minutes).

While sauce is simmering on low, heat water for cooking pasta sheets. When water is boiling, salt the water and immerse sheets of pasta. Gently move pasta around while cooking so they don’t stick together. Fresh pasta cooks quickly so watch closely – usually about 2-3 minutes. When done, remove from water and gently toss with some olive oil and reserve for plating.

Plating:

Lay cooked pasta sheet on plate. Crumble some of the goat cheese on the pasta sheet. Spoon the mushroom sauce on the goat cheese, and fold the two ends of the pasta sheet over the mushroom sauce. Once pasta is folded over sauce spoon the port-pinot reduction on top of the pasta and serve.

EAT!

HOPE I'VE WHET YOUR APPETITE... 

Let's get this party started!

Contact me at southerncaliforniawines@gmail.com or send me a facebook message if you're interested in planning a Mood Mingle with your friends...