Monday, September 19, 2011

The Best Lasagna


I have made a few different lasagna recipes (including that of my Italian grandmother) and sorry nan, but this one takes the cake!  Everything holds together so perfectly and the flavour is just right, and most importantly it gets Mark's approval! Check out Food Wishes for a video.  Since Mark is gluten-free and I don't feel like eating his gluten-free pasta, I have to make this recipe in 2 smaller dishes, but I'm sure the amount of ingredients would be the same in one big dish.

Oh and you know what else?  You can use all these same ingredients for baked ziti (or baked penne) if you like.  Just cook the pasta, drain it, mix it with pasta sauce and the cheese mixture from below, spread it out in a large glass baking dish, top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese, cover with foil and bake for an hour (take cover off for the last 15 minutes) and VOILA! You have some excellent baked ziti!

Lasagna 
Yields two 20 x 20 cm baking dishes

Ingredients:
  • Lasagna sheets (it's best if you soak them in warm water first, but you can skip this if you are in a hurry)
  • A large jar of your favourite pasta sauce (or if you have the time, make your own!)
Cheese mixture:
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 kg (2 lbs) ricotta cheese
  • 225 g (8 oz) mozzarella cheese, cubed or shredded
  • 2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese 
  • 2 teaspoons dried parsley
What you do:

Soak the lasagna sheets in warm water for ~30 minutes and mix together the ingredients for the cheese mixture in a bowl.  Then:
  1. Spoon some sauce on the bottom of the baking dish
  2. Lay out the lasagna sheets in a single layer
  3. Spread out some of the cheese mixture over the noodles
  4. Drizzle some sauce over top the cheese mixture (don't use too much or it will be too saucy!).  You could even just do a few big globs
  5. And then do as many layers as you want in this order: noodles, cheese, sauce, repeat
  6. For the final layer you sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over top the sauce
Bake covered for 30 min and uncovered for 30 min in 190 C (375 F) oven.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes and then enjoy! 

Recipe Source: Food Wishes

No comments:

Post a Comment