Lasagna
This recipe originally came from my mother's family, but I have sort of co-opted it to the point where most people in my family refer to it as "my" lasagna. For Christmas this year, I offered to come home and cook it for my parents and younger siblings, and they gladly accepted. This worked out well for both of us, as this is a somewhat complex meal, and making it in my tiny apartment kitchen is a bit of a stretch.
First, brown the ground beef and sausage together.
If it looks like this, you are not "doing it rite". First of all, that's chorizo, not sausage, and second, you forgot to remove the plastic wrappers. Go to the store and get the right stuff, then take the wrappers off.
Ah, that's more like it. I always like to use a cast-iron skillet for browning meat - I think it adds to the taste.
Once the meat is browned, spoon off the excess fat.
Break off and peel a clove of garlic, and chop it into small pieces.
Add the garlic, basil, salt, tomatoes, and tomato paste to the meat
Mix the meat sauce well, and reduce the heat to simmer. Stir occasionally.
Combine the cottage cheese, parmesan, parsley, eggs, salt, and pepper. I do not recommend using low-fat cottage cheese. Its higher water content can make the lasagna runny.
If you break the eggs into the empty cottage cheese container, you can beat them without getting another dish dirty!
The cottage cheese filling should look like this when it's done.
One advantage of doing this at home is that I have access to my mother's kitchen, which is a hell of a lot better stocked than mine. This is a Kitchen-Aid mixer with a vegetable grater attachment, which will also shred cheese quite nicely. I'm 21, and this mixer predates me by about 2 years. The fact that it still works is a testament to its quality!
If you're shredding your own cheese, which I rather enjoy doing, chop the block of Mozzarella into pieces about the size of a bar of soap, and carefully feed them into the shredder.
Here we have one pound (actually, about 1.5 pounds - I like cheese) of freshly shredded mozzarella.
Boil the noodles in a large pot of water. I usually use about 3/4 of a 16 oz package. A lot of people add oil to the water to keep the noodles from sticking together. I recommend that you do not do this - it makes cooking the noodles slightly easier, but makes assembling the final dish a pain, plus it won't hold together as well when you eat it. Stir the noodles carefully while they cook, and you'll be fine.
Here we have all of the main components of lasagna - clockwise from the upper right, we have lasagna noodles, Mozzarella cheese, the meat sauce, and the cottage cheese filling.
This is why Dad doesn't get to play with the camera - I wind up in the pictures.
In this picture, I've already put down the first half of the lasagna, but the second half is assembled the same way. First, we have a layer of noodles...
... then half the cottage cheese filling ...
... then half the Mozzarella ...
... and finally, half the meat sauce.
When the lasagna is completely assembled, it'll look like this. Throw it in an oven, preheated to 375F, for about 30 minutes. When it comes out, it needs to sit and solidify for about 10 minutes before being cut, which will give us just enough time to make some garlic bread.
Garlic Bread:
You will need:
1 loaf Italian bread
1/4 stick butter (More depending on the amount of bread)
Garlic powder
Cheese (whatever you like, I used Mozzarella and Cheddar)
First, melt the stick of butter in a small bowl.
Cut the loaf of bread in half. Take the first half and cut it into slices. Soak one side of each slice in butter.
Split the other half of the loaf lengthwise, and butter both sides. Arrange all the bread on a cooking sheet.
Sprinkle the bread with garlic powder. Use as much as you like. I like garlic, so I use a lot.
Put shredded cheese onto the half of the bread that was split lengthwise. Throw the bread into the oven at 375-400F for about 5 minutes, or until the bread is slightly crispy and the cheese is melted.
It should look like this when you take it out of the oven:
Serving suggestion:
Nothing to say here, really - eat the lasagna and garlic bread. Nice table and dishes optional.
This recipe originally came from my mother's family, but I have sort of co-opted it to the point where most people in my family refer to it as "my" lasagna. For Christmas this year, I offered to come home and cook it for my parents and younger siblings, and they gladly accepted. This worked out well for both of us, as this is a somewhat complex meal, and making it in my tiny apartment kitchen is a bit of a stretch.
quote:
Ingredients:
(Meat Sauce)
1 lb ground beef
1 lb sausage
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
1 tbsp basil
1.5 tsp salt
1 16oz can of tomatoes
3 6 oz cans of tomato paste
(Cottage Cheese Filling)
3 cups (one tub) cottage cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 tbsp parsley flakes
2 beaten eggs
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 lb shredded Mozzarella cheese
10 oz lasagna noodles
11x15" baking dish (You can use a 9x13", but you might need to scale the recipe down a bit)
Recipe:
Brown the sausage and beef together. Spoon off the excess fat.
Add the garlic clove, basil, salt, tomatoes, and tomato paste to the meat
Combine the cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, parsley, eggs, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
Boil the noodles in water until they're tender.
Put a layer of noodles in the bottom of the baking dish, then half the cottage cheese filling, then half the Mozzarella cheese, then half the meat sauce. Repeat with the remaining half of the components.
Bake at 375F for 30 minutes. Let it stand for 10 minutes or so before you cut into it.
Makes about 10-12 servings, depending on how you cut it.
First, brown the ground beef and sausage together.
If it looks like this, you are not "doing it rite". First of all, that's chorizo, not sausage, and second, you forgot to remove the plastic wrappers. Go to the store and get the right stuff, then take the wrappers off.
Ah, that's more like it.
I always like to use a cast-iron skillet for browning meat - I think it adds to the taste.
Once the meat is browned, spoon off the excess fat.
Break off and peel a clove of garlic, and chop it into small pieces.
Add the garlic, basil, salt, tomatoes, and tomato paste to the meat
Mix the meat sauce well, and reduce the heat to simmer. Stir occasionally.
Combine the cottage cheese, parmesan, parsley, eggs, salt, and pepper.
I do not recommend using low-fat cottage cheese. Its higher water content can make the lasagna runny.
If you break the eggs into the empty cottage cheese container, you can beat them without getting another dish dirty!
The cottage cheese filling should look like this when it's done.
One advantage of doing this at home is that I have access to my mother's kitchen, which is a hell of a lot better stocked than mine. This is a Kitchen-Aid mixer with a vegetable grater attachment, which will also shred cheese quite nicely. I'm 21, and this mixer predates me by about 2 years. The fact that it still works is a testament to its quality!
If you're shredding your own cheese, which I rather enjoy doing, chop the block of Mozzarella into pieces about the size of a bar of soap, and carefully feed them into the shredder.
Here we have one pound (actually, about 1.5 pounds - I like cheese) of freshly shredded mozzarella.
Boil the noodles in a large pot of water. I usually use about 3/4 of a 16 oz package.
A lot of people add oil to the water to keep the noodles from sticking together. I recommend that you do not do this - it makes cooking the noodles slightly easier, but makes assembling the final dish a pain, plus it won't hold together as well when you eat it. Stir the noodles carefully while they cook, and you'll be fine.Here we have all of the main components of lasagna - clockwise from the upper right, we have lasagna noodles, Mozzarella cheese, the meat sauce, and the cottage cheese filling.
This is why Dad doesn't get to play with the camera - I wind up in the pictures.
In this picture, I've already put down the first half of the lasagna, but the second half is assembled the same way. First, we have a layer of noodles...
... then half the cottage cheese filling ...
... then half the Mozzarella ...
... and finally, half the meat sauce.
When the lasagna is completely assembled, it'll look like this. Throw it in an oven, preheated to 375F, for about 30 minutes. When it comes out, it needs to sit and solidify for about 10 minutes before being cut, which will give us just enough time to make some garlic bread.
Garlic Bread:
You will need:
1 loaf Italian bread
1/4 stick butter (More depending on the amount of bread)
Garlic powder
Cheese (whatever you like, I used Mozzarella and Cheddar)
First, melt the stick of butter in a small bowl.
Cut the loaf of bread in half. Take the first half and cut it into slices. Soak one side of each slice in butter.
Split the other half of the loaf lengthwise, and butter both sides. Arrange all the bread on a cooking sheet.
Sprinkle the bread with garlic powder. Use as much as you like. I like garlic, so I use a lot.
Put shredded cheese onto the half of the bread that was split lengthwise. Throw the bread into the oven at 375-400F for about 5 minutes, or until the bread is slightly crispy and the cheese is melted.
It should look like this when you take it out of the oven:
Serving suggestion:
Nothing to say here, really - eat the lasagna and garlic bread. Nice table and dishes optional.
