Seriously. Aside from the mushroom thing, this took me 5 minutes. Well, plus bake time.
I don’t know why the ground mushroom craze hasn’t caught on. Everyone burbles on about all that umami but I can only think of one recipe that used mushrooms like this. And that is where I stole this idea decades ago. Grind them up—I suppose you can chop them—and then sauté them until the water has evaporated, about 20 seconds, just kidding, like 10 minutes. When this is happening you assemble the other ingredients. The mushrooms may or may not brown, it doesn’t make any difference. I added oregano and thyme but you can add fennel seeds, rosemary, sage, olives, pimentos anything that works for you works for me. I’m not gonna have to eat it anyway.
I used no boil lasagna noodles at which Stanley Tucci turns his snobbish nose up but these work beautifully and to my mind the noodles absorb aromatic juices (I believe, Gail, that I can use the word “juices” here since the juices come from many different sources) and make the pasta tastier. Layer of mushrooms, layer of ricotta, top with noodles, jarred sauce, cheese BOOM, yer done.
One of my go-to lazy meals. No onions chopped. We won’t mention the mushrooms.
