Lasagna 101 and No Cook Pasta Sheets.

I do not cook my pasta sheets beforehand when making lasagna; there, I've said it. No, I do not, and have various reasons for it; not just out of convenience. Now there are folks out there who will cry "Blasphemy!", but there will be others who will sigh in relief that they're not the only ones. Then there are those who have never made lasagna, and rely on the frozen variety.  Poor souls, they thought it was too difficult, especially the part about manipulating long sheets of pasta without creating chaos.  Dear friends, consider yourselves saved; saved from freezer burn and microwave lasagna.

 

 

My reasons for not cooking the pasta sheets beforehand: 1 - convenience of course; 2 - pasta cooks more evenly inside the baking dish; 3 - it absorbs the flavors of the tomatoes, herbs and garlic from the sauce it is simmering in; 4 - by leaving gaps and layers between the sheets gives them ample room to not stick together and become gummy (the sheets will expand during the baking process also). Your question might be, "Do I need to buy lasagna sheets that specifically say "no cook" on the box?" The answer is no! You can use those pretty, curly ended sheets; they are cooking in a liquid medium anyway, but in a manner that ensures they will not be over or undercooked. I purchase both types only because the smaller "no cook" sheets fit perfectly in 9" x 5" x 3" aluminum loaf pans which I can freeze for a later meal (2-3 servings); or give away. I can use either/or in the 9" x 12" x 3" aluminum baking pans. The number needed depends on which type of pans being used: 30 curly ended for 2 - 9" x 12"; 20 no cooks for 4 - 9" x 5" loaf pans; or 15 curly for 1 - 9" x 12" and 10 no cooks for 2 - 9" x 5" loaf pans.  Too much?  Double wrap the pans in aluminum foil and freeze them; reheat at 350F for a half hour, remove the foil and heat for another 30 minutes.  Why the aluminum pans and not glass casserole dishes? Simple answer is, "No clean up!" Oh sure, they have that new liner paper out for the glass dishes, but it takes up room and I'd rather have more sauce than paper.

Making lasagna is artwork; creation of a beautifully tasty dish using vegetarian, meat, tomato, or Alfredo sauce of your choice; cheeses of ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, provolone, and even cottage cheese.  Or be truly adventurous with a variety of seafood, or vegetables, using thin slices of zucchini instead of a grain pasta.  For those who like cheddar cheese within their Italian dishes, including pizza; I slap you with my glove and cry out, “Infidels, have you no respect!”  Keep the cheddar cheese for macaroni and cheese dishes, keep it out of Italian cuisine!

I'm warning you now that this will be a fairly long article, making a great lasagna takes time. It's not as simple as Gordon Ramsay (Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen) makes it seem on his shows; sauce is already prepared, noodles cooked, cheese is either cool or at room temperature. That's why it can be layered together quickly, placed under a broiler and done in about 10 minutes; it's more of a warming process than a cooking one.  You need to have a great sauce for Italian dishes; homemade with your own hands and that means made with love! You will need a minimum of 14 cups, perhaps 16, especially if you want to serve a bowl on the side; and at room temperature.  When the game plan is lasagna, making a 6 quart crock pot of sauce (didn’t you read my article on processing tomatoes and making sauce!!??!!)  I will add 2 pounds of ground beef that has been browned with onions, garlic and 2 teaspoons of ground black pepper.

A mixture of cheeses truly enhances a dish like lasagna: 12 cups of Ricotta (I use half whole milk, half part skim; but you can use all whole or all part skim).  1 bag (8 ounces) each of shredded Mozzarella and shredded Provolone, 1 cup shredded Romano cheese. The cheeses should be cool, but not cold; mix them all together in a large bowl, except for half the Mozzarella and half the Provolone. Take those halves, mix together and set aside.  I was not introduced to “cottage cheese lasagna” until I moved into Utah.  While ricotta is made from the whey of milk; curds become cottage cheese.  The pioneers, not being of Italian descent, fed whey to the animals while using the curds and cream to create dairy products.   I have used small curd cottage cheese in my lasagna cheese mixture if I could not find enough ricotta to use.

 

Preheat the oven to 375F; lightly spray the pan interiors with nonstick cooking spray (we don't want to leave any yummy sauce sticking to the pan). Spread one cup of sauce over the bottom.

 

Place one sheet over the sauce and press down slightly. See that space at the ends of the sheet; this is going to allow the liquids in the sauce to simmer up the sides, be absorbed by the sheets and cook them to tender perfection. The sauce will thicken up with the absorption of the excess liquid.  By the way, for the 9" x 5" loaf pans, each layer will have one sheet of pasta, while the larger pans will have 3 sheets, side by side, for each layer.

 

 

 

From the cheese mixture in the large bowl, spread a thickness of between 1/4" and 1/2" over the pasta sheet only.  Spread a half cup of sauce over the cheese as evenly as possible. Now we begin to repeat the layering process with a pasta sheet over the sauce; press down slightly; spread cheese, sauce, sheet, cheese, sauce, sheet, (however a slight change) sauce, sheet. We will end up with three layers of cheese filling total; and a top layer of sauce only between the sheets.  Now that final pasta sheet you laid down; spread sauce evenly over it, but do not fill in the sides of the pan. Remember, the liquids from the sauce need that space to move around in; not enough free space and you'll have an overflow onto your oven floor.  Bake the lasagnas for one hour; spread the remaining Mozzarella and Provolone mixture over the tops of each and return to the oven for 20 minutes.   Beautiful works of art!

 

 

 

 

Let the lasagna rest for 15 minutes before cutting into squares; the longer you wait, the firmer the servings will become. While I may have patience in creating this most outstanding meal, I have none with waiting to eat it! The longer you wait though, the cooler it is becoming also; so your big decision is do you want it pretty, but cold; or hot, messy and absolutely out of this world delicious?   Stop thinking, start eating!

 

Mary Cokenour

Lasagna Without Using Your Noodle.

Now I've made traditional Italian lasagna using noodles; I've made vegetable lasagna, again, using noodles. What happens though when, instead of pasta noodles, vegetables themselves become the noodles?  While I did have large zucchinis which I could have sliced lengthwise thinly; I decided to try it out with eggplant; sort of as if lasagna and eggplant parmigiana decided to have a baby.

Eggplant is a spongy type of vegetable; when fried in oil, it will absorb a good deal of the oil.  However, I didn't want my lasagna to be a soppy, oily mess and made the decision to oven fry the eggplant slices.  If it works for potatoes, why not eggplant, right?  By the way, to make it a bit more interesting, I sautéed green bell peppers and grape tomatoes (look like miniature Roma tomatoes) together and made that one of the layers.  In my opinion, this addition made the entire dish come together into a delicious perfection; but then again, I'm biased.

Eggplant Lasagna

 Ingredients:

1 large eggplant

1 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs
2 eggs
½ cup milk
1 small green bell pepper
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ tsp salt
½ tsp garlic powder
1 (32 oz.) container part-skim ricotta cheese
1 (8 oz.) package finely shredded mozzarella cheese; divided in half
3 cups homemade pasta sauce

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F; spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray, and a 2 and ½ quart baking dish.

 

Cut ends off the eggplant and peel off skin; cut into ¼ inch slices.  Place bread crumbs onto flat plate; lightly beat eggs and milk together in a wide mouth bowl.  Dip the eggplant slices into the egg mixture, then lightly bread on both sides; place on baking sheet.  Bake for 5 minutes on one side; turn over, bake for another 5 minutes; remove from oven, but keep oven at 350F.

 

While eggplant is baking; take seeds out of the bell pepper, cut into strips and then dice; cut the tomatoes into halves.  In a 10 inch skillet, heat olive oil on medium-high; add in the bell pepper, tomatoes, salt and garlic powder.  Sauté for 5 minutes, remove from heat.

 

 

 

In a medium bowl, combine ricotta and 4 ounces of shredded mozzarella; if using whole milk ricotta, add one egg when mixing to achieve smoothness. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the sprayed baking dish, spread one cup of sauce on the bottom; place 3 slices of eggplant on bottom.  Spread half the cheese mixture over the eggplant; spread half the vegetable mixture over the cheese.   Repeat process: one cup sauce, 3 eggplant, half cheese, half vegetables, one cup sauce and remaining eggplant slices.  Top the entire casserole with the other half of the shredded mozzarella; bake for 30-35 minutes (cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling up).  Remove from oven; let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

 

 

 

 

Makes six servings.

Mary Cokenour

Lasagna that is Meatless and Very Little Cheese.

Typically, when you hear the word "Lasagna", images of long, tender noodles holding layer upon layer of meat sauce and mixture of Italian cheeses might come to mind.  This new recipe I am going to post today is about a lasagna without meat, no typical red tomato sauce, and very little cheese indeed.  I'm writing about a vegetable lasagna, the same long, tender noodles, but instead there are layers chock full of sautéed vegetables, fresh spinach leaves and a béchamel sauce.  Béchamel is a white sauce, but since I did melt in a fair amount of shredded Parmesan cheese, it becomes an Alfredo sauce.

Even though the noodles are undercooked slightly, they will be pliable and not fall apart.  Will they cook evenly while baking?  Yes!  The sauce, plus natural liquid from the vegetables, will finish cooking the noodles; they will be tender and absorb flavors of both the sauce and the vegetables.  The Alfredo sauce allows the vegetables to retain their individual flavors and truly enhances them.

Vegetable Lasagna Rustico

Ingredients:

For the Lasagna Filling:

12 Lasagna Noodles (full size, not the no-cook variety)

¼ cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 green bell pepper, julienned
½ lb. shredded carrots
½ sliced mushrooms
1 large zucchini, cut into ¼ inch slices
1 large yellow squash, cut into ¼ inch slices
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp Italian herbal mix
½ lb. spinach leaves; divided into 1/3 portions
5 cups Alfredo sauce

For the Alfredo Sauce:

Ingredients:

8 Tbsp. butter
8 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
6 cups hot milk
1 (8 oz.) package shredded Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Preparation:

Prepare noodles according to package direction, but undercook by 5 minutes to leave the noodles pliable.

Prepare the Alfredo sauce which should be kept warm until ready for use.  In a large saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat until melted; gradually add the flour, stirring until smooth.  Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture turns a golden brown color, about 6 to 7 minutes; this is the roux.

Add the hot milk to the butter mixture one cup at a time; whisk continuously to avoid burning or clumping. When mixture is completely smooth, add the cheese and whisk until smooth again; remove from heat; season with salt and nutmeg.

 

Prepare the vegetable filling; in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat; add onions, red and green bell peppers and carrots; mix and let cook for five minutes.  Add in the mushrooms, zucchini and yellow squash; mix and let cook for five minutes.  Mix in garlic and Italian herbal mixture; remove from heat.

 Preheat oven to 375F and lightly spray a 4-quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

 

Begin the layering process: one cup sauce spread over bottom of baking dish; three noodles alongside each other; one third of the vegetables from the skillet spread over the noodles; one third of the spinach leaves spread over the vegetables; three noodles; one cup sauce spread over the noodles; lastly top with remaining two cups of sauce.

 

-        Or  -

One Cup Sauce
3 Noodles

1/3 Vegetables
1/3 Spinach Leaves
3 Noodles
One Cup Sauce
1/3 Vegetables
1/3 Spinach Leaves
3 Noodles
One Cup Sauce
1/3 Vegetables
1/3 Spinach Leaves
3 Noodles
Top with remaining two cups of sauce.

 

Bake, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes; until golden brown.  Let rest for 20 minutes before cutting into portions.

Makes 9 servings.

After resting, the cut portions hold their shape.

Mary Cokenour

Lasagna 101 and No Cook Pasta.

I don't cook my lasagna sheets before hand when making lasagna; there, I've said it.  No, I do not and I have various reasons for it; not just out of convenience.  Now there are folks out there who will cry "Blasphemy!" and there will be others who will sigh in relief that they're not the only ones.  Then there are those who have never made lasagna; they thought it was too difficult, especially the part about manipulating long sheets of pasta without creating chaos.  This blog post is geared mostly towards those people.

My reasons for not cooking the pasta sheets before hand: convenience of course; the pasta cooks more evenly inside the baking dish; it absorbs the flavors of the tomatoes, herbs and garlic from the sauce it is simmering in; by leaving gaps and layers between the sheets gives them ample room to not stick together and become gummy (the sheets will expand during the baking process also).  Your question might be, "Do I need to buy lasagna sheets that specially say "no cook" on the box?"  The answer is no!  You can use those pretty, curly ended sheets; they are cooking in a liquid medium anyway, but in a manner that ensures they will not be over or undercooked.  I purchase both types only because the smaller "no cook" sheets fit perfectly in 9" x 5" x 3" aluminum loaf pans which I can freeze for a later meal (2-3 servings); or give away.  I can use either/or in the 9" x 12" x 3" aluminum baking pans.  Why the aluminum pans and not glass casserole dishes?  Simple answer is, "No clean up!"  Oh sure, they have that new liner paper out for the glass dishes, but it takes up room and I'd rather have more sauce than paper.

Embedded in the following words are links to the recipes for those items, so simply click on them: Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes, Sauce from Canned Tomatoes, including Meat Sauce, Vegetarian Pasta Sauce, Lasagna.  You're probably going to notice that older recipe for Lasagna may not exactly match what I describe in today's post.  None of my recipes are 100% gospel; no matter how well the dish comes out, I'm always looking to improve and update my own recipes.  Lets start creating an awesome lasagna.

Now I'm warning you now that this will be a fairly long blog posting; making a great lasagna takes time.  It's not as simple as Gordon Ramsay (Kitchen Nightmares) or Robert Irvine (Restaurant: Impossible) make it seem on their shows; the sauce is already prepared, the noodles already cooked and the cheese is either cool or at room temperature.  That's why it can be layered together quickly, placed under a broiler and done in about 10 minutes; it's more of a warming process than a cooking one.

You need to have a great sauce for Italian dishes and that means Homemade!  Whether it is from fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, meat sauce or even a vegetarian sauce; it's made with your own hands and that means made with love!  You will need a minimum of 14 cups, perhaps 16 especially if you want to serve a bowl on the side; and at room temperature.

.A mixture of cheeses truly enhances a dish like lasagna: 10 cups of Ricotta ( I use half whole milk, half part skim; but you can use all whole or all part skim too); 2 cups small curd Cottage Cheese (this is an American addition which adds needed liquid, but a little tang to the mixture), 1 bag (8 ounces) each of shredded Mozzarella and shredded Provolone, 1 cup shredded Romano cheese.  The cheeses should be cool, but not cold; mix them all together in a large bowl, except for half the Mozzarella and half the Provolone. Takes those halves, mix together and set aside.

Lasagna noodles, the "no cook" are usually smaller and wider than regular sheets, and have a "wavy" structure; these are recommended for loaf pans.  The regular sheets (need to cook, but we're not going to) are longer, thinner, flatter, have a curly ending along the sides.  The number needed depends on which type of pans being used: 30 curly ended for 2- 9" x 12"; 20 no cooks for 4- 9" x 5" loaf pans; or for what I made, 15 curly for 1- 9" x 12" and 10 no cooks for 2- 9" x 5" loaf pans.

                                                                                                           Preheat the oven to 375F; lightly spray the pan interiors with nonstick cooking spray (we don't want to leave any yummy sauce sticking to the pan).  Spread one cup of sauce over the bottom.

Place one sheet over the sauce and press down slightly.  See that space at the ends of the sheet; this is going to allow the liquids in the sauce to simmer up the sides, be absorbed by the sheets and cook them to tender perfection.  The sauce will thicken up with the absorption of the excess liquid.

                                                                                                                 From the cheese mixture in the large bowl, spread a thickness of between 1/4" and 1/2" over the pasta sheet only.

                                                                                                         

Spread a half cup of sauce over the cheese as evenly as possible.  Now we begin to repeat the layering process with a pasta sheet over the sauce; press down slightly; spread cheese, sauce, sheet, cheese, sauce, sheet, (however a slight change) sauce, sheet.  We will end up with three layers of cheese filling total; and a top layer of sauce only between the sheets.

Now that final pasta sheet you laid down; spread sauce evenly over it, but do not fill in the sides of the pan.  Remember, the liquids from the sauce need that space to move around in; not enough free space and you'll have an overflow onto your oven floor.

 Using the large pan, 3 sheets will go side by side, but have room for the liquid to move through and cook.  The layering process is essentially the same as the small pans.

Bake the lasagnas for one hour; spread the remaining Mozzarella and Provolone mixture over the tops of each and return to the oven for 20 minutes.

  Aren't they beautiful!?!

 

 

Now the single serving pictured above is after letting the lasagna rest only 15 minutes; the longer you wait, the firmer the servings will become.  While I may have patience in creating this most outstanding meal, I have none with waiting to eat it!  The longer you wait though, the cooler it is becoming also; so your big decision is do you want it pretty, but cold; or hot, messy and absolutely out of this world delicious?

 

Enjoy!!!

 

Mary Cokenour