Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Lasagna

I haven't lately, but here's my fave dish:

Ingredients:
about 1-1.5 lbs of meat (I like to do half ground beef and half ground pork)
1 box lasagna noodles
1 Jar sauce (or I sometimes get tomato puree/crushed tomatoes and add my own seasonings)
1/2 of small onion, chopped
Mozzarella cheese (I use an 8 oz bag, shredded)
Parmesan cheese
8 oz. Ricotta
1 egg (plus dash cinnamon)

Seasonings:
garlic salt
dash pepper
basil
oregano

Optional:
green/red peppers
mushrooms
spinach
broccoli/other veggies (yes I have made a meat & veggie lasagna before)

Directions:
*Boil water-add a little olive oil to prevent sticking, add noodles, cook until 'al dente'. You don't want them too soft, nor too hard. While boiling noodles:
*Cook meat in frying pan. I add some garlic salt/powder, basil, oregano (or just use Italian seasoning) When no longer pink, drain off any grease. If using vegetables, can add in the meat and cook until semi-soft.
*Add ricotta, egg, 1/3 of mozzarella, dash of cinnamon, dash of garlic powder, dash of basil (can you tell I LOVE herbs and seasonings?) and mix together.
*Drain noodles, spread a little sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Arrange one layer of noodles, to cover bottom.
*Add meat, spread with some sauce and top with some mozzarella.
*Layer noodles on top. Spread ricotta mixture on top, and spread a little sauce on top of that.
*Arrange another noodle layer. Top with a generous amount of sauce and mozzarella cheese.
*Bake at 375 for almost an hour. Can put foil on top of pan to prevent cheese from browning, just remove about 15 minutes before lasagna is done.

*You can layer however you want. I just like putting the heavier meat on the bottom, as the ricotta is lighter and doesn't hold the shape as well. My mother layers noodle, meat/ricotta, noodle, meat/ricotta, noodle, etc. So do as you wish.

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