Celebration Lasagne

In spite of a complex preparation and a lengthy cooking process, this is rather easy to put together. A great and impressive dish for parties - it looks fantastic! I simplified the original Chatelaine recipe (Oct. 2008).

Servings: 12
Makes in: 2 hours
Level: medium

• 300g frozen spinach
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 300g Italian sausages or ground beef
• 1/2 cup sherry marsala 
• 700 ml tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon each: dried basil, oregano
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 4 large portobello mushroom, sliced
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups mozzarella, grated
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 12 oven-ready lasagna noodles 

1. Thaw spinach, don't microwave.
2. Microwave wine until hot, 1 min and stir into sliced mushrooms. Leave covered while cooking.
3. Meat sauce:

• Coat a large frying pan with oil over med. heat. Crumble and break ground beef, cook until no longer pink, 3 min. 
• Add Marsala. Increase heat to high. Cook till Marsala evaporates, 5min. 
• Add pasta sauce, basil, oregano. Stir often till hot. Remove from heat.

4. Mushroom sauce:

• Melt 1T butter in a large frying pan. Add onion, saute till softened, 3min.
• Add 1T butter, add mushrooms. Add 1t salt. 
• Stir, cook till wine evaporates, 5 min. Remove from heat.

5. White sauce:

• Melt 4T butter, add flour. Whisk till golden colored. 
• Gradually whisk in milk till comes to a boil. Reduce heat till med.-low, whisk about 5min till thickened. 
• Add nutmeg, 1/2 salt. Stir 1/2 of the sauce into mushroom sauce.

6. Preheat oven to 350. Mix cheeses in a bowl.
7. Spread meat sauce just enough to cover 9x13in baking dish. Layer in the following order:

• 4 noodles
• 1/2 mushroom sauce
• 1/2 meat sauce
• 1C cheese
• 4 noodles
• remaining mushroom sauce
• scatter spinach without squeezing
• 1C cheese
• 4 noodles
• meat sauce
• white sauce
• remaining cheese

8. Lay a piece of foil on top. Place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 1H. Remove foil, bake another 15-20min. Let stand 5 min before serving.

MAKE AHEAD: assemble, don't bake. Cover with foil and refrigerate up to 2 days. Bring to room temp-re and bake.