Sunday, September 12, 2010

Ricotta-less Lasagna



A lovely person recently told me my posts have been lacking "substance" so here's a lengthy post with step-by-step directions on how to make a hearty lasagna on a dime. I don't really like ricotta in my lasagna - I LOOOOVE ricotta in general. For tangential reasons, may I suggest topping some with a little raspberry jam or maple syrup and eating it as a lovely snack?

Anyway, in Italy I learned to make lasagna layering bechemel and tomato sauce, so here's my version of that procedure using ingredients I happened to have on hand. The results were amazing and I am quite proud of my handy work :)

What You Need:

1 box Barilla lasagna sheet noodles - not the one with ruffly edges, the flat ones
2 jars pasta sauce -I used vodka sauce and a garlic/olive oil sauce
5 cloves minced garlic
1 large can black olives, sliced
pepper, salt, garlic powder to taste

Make the Sauce (s):

Heat the sauces and add the garlic and spices. You can add some oregano if you want, too, but sometimes that overpowers the dish.

I had some leftover Gorgonzola bechemel sauce, so I decided to us that for my lasagna, but if you don't have any, just whip up a batch. See any one of my Mac and Cheese posts for a recipe.

Layer the Lasagna:

Start with a nice covering of sauce a the bottom of a Pyrex dish
Put on a layer of noddles
Cover noodles with more sauce and a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese
More noodles
Sauce, then I added some cooked and drained spinach and the bechemel
Noodles
Sauce and mozzarella cheese
Continue this procedure until you are done with the noodles
Add one final layer of sauce and a healthy covering of mozzarella and pecorino if you have some
Cover the whole thing with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven
Uncover it and bake an additional 10 minutes so the cheese browns


If you want, you can poke through with a knife to make sure the noodles are totally cooked, but the great thing about using these noodles is no pre-boiling!!!! The spinach is a great addition if you don't have meat, like me. But you could add some ground turkey or chicken or beef to the pasta sauce and nix the spinach - I wouldn't do both because then one of them will be jealous of the other. Another thing: I really like is how this lasagna falls when you slice it - in my opinion, food should not be so stiff that it stands on its own. No thanks.

And there you have it, a delicious, healthy meal to last you a week. I actually froze a few pieces for a rainy day. But this is also a great thing to make and feed a few good friends.

2 comments:

  1. WHATTTTTT you don't like ricotta, woman?!??

    This is blasphemy to Italians all over.

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  2. Nono, I DO like ricotta, just not packed into my lasagna so it takes on a sponge-like consistency and total lack of flavor (see opening paragraph). Besides, Italians make a cheesy bechemel and use that instead, so I'd say they would be proud of my attention to their cultural preferences :)

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