Lasagna is an easy classic that to many new cooks seems more daunting than it really is. This one takes about 20 mins to put together and then bakes for 45 mins or so. Easy enough, even for a weeknight! You can also make ahead and put it in the fridge. Sometimes I will make one on Sunday and then all I have to do is bake it any night that week. Also a great one to make in a disposable foil pan and give to a friend who just had surgery or send with the guys up to deercamp. What you'll need:First put our water on the boil in a large pot. Next you'll brown the meat. You can use beef, turkey, pork sausage, venison, or any combo you like. You'll need olive oil if the meat you are using does not have much fat. I used 1lb of 80/20 beef for a lasagna that feeds about 6 people. If I wanted to make a larger lasagna I would double the meat to 2lbs and add an extra layer of meat sauce, but I wouldn't double the cheeses. I love to mix 1 lb of beef or venison with 1lb of mild Italian pork sausage when I am making a larger lasagna. Because I was using plain beef and no sausage, I added some garlic paste, salt and pepper, and quite a bit of Italian seasoning as the meat is browning. While the meat is browning put your noodles into salted boiling water. I spread them out like the arms of a clock in order to prevent them from sticking together. In the bottom of the lasagna pan pour a layer of your favorite marinara sauce. This prevents the noodles from sticking while baking. When the noodles are nice and pliable shut the heat off. You want them to still have a nice bite to them so they finish cooking as the lasagna bakes. When in doubt, undercook the noodles. Almost all of the rest of the sauce goes into the meat. Reserve just enough for one thin layer of plain sauce for the top layer. Now start layering. The geeky/OCD side of me loves that I have been able to find a brand of pasta that fits perfectly into my pan. If yours doesn't fit perfectly you can just trim them to fit in like a puzzle. I like to set up everything like an assembly line so the layering goes quickly and easily. On top of the noodles goes the layer of meat sauce. If you used 1lb of meat, use all the meat sauce here. If you used 2lbs, reserve half for another layer after the cottage cheese layer. Next another layer of noodles and then the full tub of cottage cheese. I like the small curd and yes I do prefer the end result with cottage cheese versus ricotta. I actually don't even like cottage cheese other than in lasagna, but the texture changes when it's baked and in my experience the ricotta gets very dry (this may be because we don't have access to great ricotta in U.S. Supermarkets. Rule #1 in cooking, use what you like. If you want to use ricotta than use ricotta!). You can also add a raw egg-yolk to the cottage or ricotta cheese if you want it to bind a bit more. We have egg allergies in the house so I omitted it. I also season on top of the cottage cheese with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Layer another layer of noodles. If you have more meat sauce do that layer here. If not you can just do the remaining marinara sauce and then the full package of shredded mozzarella. Again, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Bake at 350 for about 45 mins until bubbly and brown! If you aren't planning on eating it right away, put it in the fridge before baking. It will then likely bake for closer to an hour since the ingredients will all be cold when it goes into the oven. You will want to let it set up for at least 10 minutes before cutting into. Enjoy!!
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Author: KellyI love to cook and care for the people I love! Categories
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November 2020
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