Mushroom Lasagna

I've made vegetarian lasagnas before, but when I saw this recipe in Cooking Light, I thought I'd give it a try. I should have gone with my first instinct and made a basic roux to create the white sauce. Instead I followed directions and ended up throwing out the first sauce and making it again, this time using a roux. There are some procedures that shouldn't be subjected to short cuts. When I made the second sauce, I decided to eliminate the 3 garlic cloves because I felt they were excessive and didn't add to the flavor in a good way--there is already shallot and garlic in the mushroom mixture. The changes are reflected in the recipe that follows.

Serves 6
1 cup boiling water
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
2 tbs butter, divided
1 tbs olive oil
4 shallots, chopped
1 (8 oz) pkg presliced cremini mushrooms
1 (4 oz) pkg presliced shitaki mushrooms or mushroom blend
1 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 tbs chopped fresh thyme
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup white wine
3 oz Neufchatel cheese
2 tbs chopped chives
3 cups reduced fat milk
1/4 cup all purpose flour
cooking spray
9 no boil lasagna noodles
2 oz (1/2 cup) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine 1 cup boiling water and porcini. Cover and let stand 30 minutes. Strain mixture through a cheesecloth-lined sieve over a bowl, reserving liquid and mushrooms.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tbs oil to pan and swirl to coat. Add shallots to pan and saute 3 minutes. Add cremini and shitaki mushrooms, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, and saute about 6 minutes or until mushrooms are browned. Add thyme and garlic and saute an additional 1 minute. Stir in wine and bring to a boil. Cook until most of the liquid evaporates, scraping pan to loosen brown bits. Remove from heat and stir in Neufchatel cheese and chives. Add reserved porcini mushrooms.

Add the remaining tbs butter to a skillet, sprinkle on flour and cook, whisking constantly, about 1 minute. Slowly add the porcini liquid and milk, whisking until liquid comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat.

Spoon 1/2 cup of the sauce into an 11 X 7 inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with 3 noodles. Spread half of mushroom mixture over noodles. Repeat layers, ending with remaining sauce. Sprinkle cheese over top. Bake for 45 minutes.

*I would recommend covering this with foil; I didn't and my noodles crisped. Take foil off for last 10 minutes of cooking.

Let set about 5 minutes before slicing.
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TASTE NOTES
I was very annoyed at having to make the sauce twice, which significantly increased the time it took to prepare this dish. That said, I really enjoyed the combination of mushrooms with the Neufchatel cheese (which is just reduced fat cream cheese). If I made this again for a main dish, I would add some roasted red peppers to the mushroom mixture to punch up the flavors.