Lasagna

 

As the weather starts to get colder I start to crave comfort foods. This week I decided to make a small pan of lasagna and I thought I would share the recipe here. I love lasagna but I don't want to be eating it for the next week non-stop so I make a small pan that results in about 3 servings.

I'm using my favorite small casserole dish (mine is about 8” by 6” and about 2” deep) but if you don't have one about this size a regular sized loaf pan will also work. By regular size I mean either an 8” by 4” or a 9” by 5” or there abouts. I like the more shallow casserole dish and I use this one all the time. I picked it up at Home Goods a while back.

This recipe is a fairly traditional lasagna with a red sauce, some meat (I added some mushrooms) and a ricotta mixture.

It bakes up wonderfully and is good as leftovers. Half of my leftovers went to work with me the next day and were just as good if not better than they had been at dinner the night before. The third serving went into the freezer for a quick lunch or dinner whenever I need it.

Before we go on, do you get annoyed when you store something with a tomato sauce in your plastic storage container it the container ends up stained? There is a solution to this, just spray the container with some non-stick cooking spray (like Pam) before you add the food. I have been doing this for years and I can't tell you how many containers it has saved me.

I did take a short cut by using jarred sauce from the store, normally I would have used my homemade sauce but I don't have enough left in the freezer and I didn't feel like making sauce this week. Any good marinara sauce will work just fine.

I prefer to use the noodles that you boil over the no-boil type. You can use either in this recipe, I just don't like the texture of the no-boil ones very well.

For the meat I am using ground beef and I added some mushrooms to stretch the meat further and to add to the taste. I love to mix in mushrooms with my ground beef because it really makes the dish meaty without having to use as much meat.

The ricotta cheese mixture in the middle is probably my favorite part of the lasagna and this one turned out perfectly.

Lasagna is a little bit time consuming to put together and it does have to bake for a while but it is so worth the effort.

Lasagna

6 un-cooked lasagna noodles

 

 

 

 

olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup chopped mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, chopped (I used the kind in the jar)

2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs

salt and pepper to taste

¼ pound ground beef

2 cups marinara sauce

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 egg

¼ cup shredded Parmesan

 

 

6 slices mozzarella cheese

Start by preheating your oven to 375°F.

Cook the lasagna noodles as directed on the package. Drain and allow to cool slightly.

Saute the onion and mushrooms in just a bit of olive oil until softened. Add the garlic, Italian herbs, salt and pepper. Continue to cook a minute of so then add the ground beef. Cook over medium heat until meat is cooked through. Add the sauce, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile in a small bowl combine the ricotta, egg and Parmesan cheese.

Now its time to assemble-

Add about 1 cup of the sauce to the bottom of your casserole dish.

Add a layer of 2 of the noodles cut to fit the casserole. 

Add about half the remaining sauce on top of the noodles.

Another layer of noodles cut to fit.

Add all of the ricotta mixture on top of the second layer of noodles.

Another layer of the noodles.

Top with the rest of the sauce mixture.

Add a layer of the sliced cheese.

Loosely cover with some aluminum foil, and bake for about 45 minutes. I do highly recommend putting the casserole dish on a baking sheet in case there are any drips.

At the end of the 45 minutes remove the foil and continue to bake for 10 to brown the cheese.

Allow lasagna to rest on the counter for 15 minutes before you cut into it.

This recipe gives 3 very nice sized servings.