Skip to main content

Lasagna

Welcome back! 
Today, we have a recipe for a unique Italian dish: Lasagna! When you really think about it, lasagna is a really interesting dish; it's a just bunch of layers of pasta! In reality, it's like a different way to enjoy the Italian flavors that you know and love. That being said, we based this recipe largely off of the Stuffed Shells recipe that we made, which also included a bolognese and ricotta sauces with the pasta, with the difference being in the assembly.

Lasagna

Ingredients:

  • Several lasagna sheets (depending on the size of your dish, we used about 12)
  • 12 ounces mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Bolognese Sauce:
  • 1 pound ground beef (you can also do 1/2 pound ground beef and 1/2 pound Italian sausage)
  • 1/2 medium onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 can (14 ounces) crushed tomatoes
  • 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon herbs (italian seasoning, parsley, basil, whatever)
  • Salt and pepper to taste 
Ricotta Sauce:
  • 16 ounces ricotta cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (optional)
  • Salt to taste

Directions:

  1. Prepare the lasagna sheets by cooking them about halfway (about 8 minutes).
  2. Prepare the ricotta sauce:
    1. Add everything into a bowl and stir it until smooth. This may take a while but the texture is important.
  3. Prepare the bolognese sauce:
    1. In a pan, saute the onion until soft. Then, add in the garlic.
    2. Put in the ground beef now and cook until it's brown.
    3. Add the rest of the ingredients in and mix.
    4. Simmer for at least 30 minutes. The longer you cook it the better, we recommend 2 hours.
  4. Assemble:
    1. Put a little bit of the bolognese sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.
    2. Place a layer of lasagna into the dish.
    3. Put some of the bolognese sauce on top.
    4. Place another layer of lasagna into the dish.
    5. Put some of the ricotta sauce on top.
    6. Sprinkle some mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on top.
    7. Repeat, while continuing to alternate the two sauces. The last layer should be bolognese.
    8. Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese.
  5. Cover the lasagna and bake in the oven at 350°F for 25 minutes.
  6. Uncover and bake for another 20-25 minutes until the cheese has melted and become golden.
You can kinda see in the picture above that the top-most sheet of lasagna is popping out in the corners. Try to avoid this because you'll get an unwanted crunchy pasta addition to your delicious lasagna!
Ovular version of lasagna

Despite being very similar to the stuffed shells, the experience of eating a lasagna is completely different! It seems as though the pasta is much more integrated into the dish rather than being a vehicle for the sauce as it is in the shells. The interesting thing about lasagna is that it's pretty much always made this way - like, have you ever seen a pesto lasagna? However, that shouldn't stop you from experimenting; maybe you can come up with an amazing new dish!

-Chefpo
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Banana Chiffon Cake

Welcome back!  Today, we have another recipe for when you want to use some of your extra bananas! Unlike the Banana Bread from last time, this one is basically a chiffon cake that is modified to accommodate for the bananas. It keeps the really light and fluffy texture of the cake while also having the banana flavor, and it also goes nicely with other fresh fruit like shown below.  Banana Chiffon Cake Makes one 9-10" pan Ingredients: For the egg yolk mixture: 7 egg yolks 2 tablespoons sugar 2 medium bananas 80 grams oil 90 grams orange juice 110 grams cake flour 10 grams corn starch 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda For the egg white mixture: 7 egg whites 110 more grams of sugar 1 teaspoon lime/lemon juice Directions: Mix the egg yolks and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Then, add oil and mix thoroughly. Then, add orange juice and mix. Then, add vanilla extract. Sift the flour along with the baking soda and baking powder and add it in the egg yolk mixture. Gently fold ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Key Lime Pie

Welcome back!  Today, we have one of my favorite desserts: Key Lime Pie! There's so many things that are great about this dish from the texture to the combination of flavors. Plus, I prefer the flavor of key limes as compared to normal limes, as key limes are tarter and more citrus-y. Now this is a sour dish, so if that's not your thing, then you can cut back on some of the key lime juice and it'll be better. Any way, it's a great dessert! Key Lime Pie Makes a 10" tart pan or 9" pie pan Ingredients: Crust: 2 1/2 cups almond flour 6 tablespoons butter, diced 1/4 cup sugar Pinch of salt If you want to use graham crackers for the crust, use about 1 1/2 cups (150 grams) of crushed graham cracker crumbs (about 10 sheets) along with 5 tablespoons melted butter and mix. Filling: 4 egg yolks* 1 14-ounce can of condensed milk 2/3 cup key lime juice (about 1 pound of key limes should be enough for decorations too) 1 tablespoon key lime zest *If you don't want to use...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tiramisu

Welcome back to Chez Chefpo!  Today, we've got a classic Italian dessert: Tiramisu! No twists on this one, this is your classic tiramisu that's about as traditional as it gets. In fact, it's truly comparable to the authentic tiramisu that you could find in Italy (more about this below)! While this is not the cheapest recipe, it is actually pretty easy and is definitely worth making because it is veramente delicioso! Tiramisu Makes one 7" by 9" pan Ingredients: Cream: 4 egg yolks 50 grams sugar 16 ounces Mascarpone cheese (preferably room temperature) 200 grams heavy whipping cream 2-3 tablespoons Kahlua* Coffee Mixture: 120 mL cooled espresso (if you don't have this, 2 tablespoons of espresso powder plus 120 mL of hot water will do) 2-3 tablespoons Kahlua* You will also need: 1 package, or about 24, lady fingers Cocoa powder to be dusted onto the top *If you don't have Kahlua, you can just use rum.  Here's a reference for some of the more special ingre...
Post a Comment
Read more