By Request Betty Shimabukuro

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Veggie lasagna rivals
flavor of meaty versions

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If you're a vegetarian, you know what it can be like to attend a banquet where everyone else is digging into plates of roast beef or chicken. Maybe you'll get a plate of steamed vegetables, or the regular plate with the meat removed. Oh joy.

Chip Hawkins, chef at the Renaissance Ilikai Hotel, feels your pain and has built up the vegetarian entrées on his banquet menu. Given the usual banquet choices, "the vegetarian feels a little cheated," he says.

His Wild Mushroom Lasagna is one of those options.

Jean Suzuki, who is not a vegetarian, had the dish at a recent seminar. "It was the most delicious lasagna everyone had tasted," she wrote.

This is a great dish, but not economical, in terms of time or money. The porcinis alone total more than $15. As for time, this is a many-step proposition. It took me two hours to get it in the oven. Hawkins suggests simplifying by using a good commercial alfredo sauce.

Wild Mushroom Lasagna

3 cups water
2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms
5 tablespoons butter
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) sherry
2 pounds large white mushrooms, finely chopped
1 pound zucchini, diced in 1/4-inch cubes
2 cups chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
21 dry, no-boil lasagna noodles
1/2 pound shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1-1/2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese

>> Sauce:
4 ounces butter
1/2 cup flour
5 cups whole milk
4-1/2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1-1/2 teaspoons salt

Bring water to a boil, then remove from heat. Stir in dried porcinis; soak 20 minutes. Strain, reserving liquid. Rinse, drain well, then chop porcinis and place in a large bowl.

Simmer reserved soaking liquid until reduced to 1/4 cup. Strain liquid and add to the porcinis.

Melt butter in a large pan or Dutch oven. Add mushrooms and sherry. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat, until mushrooms cook down and liquid evaporates, about 30 minutes. Add to porcinis.

Sauté zucchini, onion, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper until soft. Add to mushroom mixture.

To make sauce: Melt butter in a pan over low heat. Whisk in flour and cook 3 to 5 minutes. Add milk and bring to a simmer. Whisk until thickened and smooth. Remove from heat. Add Parmesan cheese, mustard and salt, stirring to melt cheese.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread 1 cup sauce on bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan, top with a layer of pasta, then 1/3 of mushroom filling. Repeat layers, topping with 1/2 the mozzarella. Make 1 more layer of sauce, pasta, mushrooms and mozzarella. Sprinkle with parmesan. Bake 45 minutes. Let rest 20 minutes before slicing. Serves 12.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 480 calories, 25 g total fat, 15 g saturated fat, 70 mg cholesterol, 880 mg sodium, 43 g carbohydrate, 23 g protein.

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Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.