Lasagna
Lasagna with its ooey gooey cheesy layers that can be made ahead and frozen are a huge winner in my book. Since my son was born and my husband and I have both returned to work, getting dinner ready in the evening ends up being quite the process, even with both of us cooking! We typically would divide and conquer, but we would still end up eating around 8:30-9 pm. So, we started creating meals that could be made on the weekend, frozen, and then popped in the oven on weeknights. Both of us know that we could buy a frozen lasagna but we find the flavor of most frozen lasagnas bland and slightly off-putting. Furthermore, we can create large batches of sauce and make 4-5 to freeze, which decreased our food bill in the following weeks. That’s a win-win for us! So this post is specifically to provide a recipe that creates bulk meals for a few weeknights!
Another nice thing about this recipe is that if you don’t use all the sauce, it can be frozen and then served over noodles for spaghetti. I remember my mom making a huge batch of pasta sauce, portioning out some for lasagna and then some specifically for spaghetti. It was amazing how she planned and creating multiple dishes with one preparation.
When reviewing the ingredients, you will notice that I specifically use “no boil” lasagna noodles, they are so much easier, and cleaner compared to having to boil the lasagna noodles prior to assembly. It has definitely cut down on the food waste and cleaning time, one less pot to clean at the end! If you can’t find the “no boil” noodles, you can use the typical cooked noodles in the preparation, but I suggest only bake them to “al dente”, if you cook them all the way, the noodles end up dissolving while baking the lasagna.
Let’s get cooking!
Tips & Tricks:
- Use “no boil” lasagna noodles – no need to boil, fight the traditional lasagna noodles.
- Utilize the pasta sauce for the lasagna.
- Be prepared to make multiple sized lasagnas and then freeze for later use.
Equipment:
- Various oven proof tins
- Large pot for sauce
- Cutting board
- Chef’s Knife
- Measuring bowls/spoons
- Multiple sized bowls
- Wooden spoon
- Large serving spoon
- Plastic wrap
- Foil
Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 box lasagna noodles no boil noodles
Homemade Red Sauce
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 yellow onion finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
- (2) 15 ounce cans tomato sauce
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
Cheese Mixture
- 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese grated
- 8 ounce Ricotta Cheese
- 16 ounce mozzarella cheese cubed
- 1-1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme finely chopped
- 1-1 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
Pasta Sauce:
- Heat your large pot, add a little canola oil and then brown off your ground beef
- Once cooked remove from pan and set aside.
- Sauté the onions until translucent, add rosemary, basil, and oregano.
- Addabout 1 cup of wine, scrape the bottom of the pan, and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes.
- Then return the cooked ground beef back to the pan.
- Add the tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce, return to a boil.
- Cover, reduce heat, and let simmer for about 45 minutes.
Cheese Mixture:
- Combine the cube mozzarella, ricotta, and grated parmesan into a large bowl with the fresh herbs.
- Scramble egg in a small bowl and incorporate into cheese/herb mixture.
- Add salt and pepper, and mix with a large spoon until everything is well incorporated.
Assembly:
- Now it’s time to assemble. Place a small bit of sauce in the bottom of your oven-proof tins, then place noodles.
- Layer the cheese mixture, then the sauce.
- Add another layer of noodles, then cheese, then sauce.
- Add the last layer of parmesan on top.
- Place plastic wrap over the top and then foil. I can usually make 3-5 depending on the size of the tins.
- Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Once you are ready to bake, remove plastic wrap, but maintain the foil over the top.Place lasagna on a sheet pan.Place in the oven with foil on for about 45-60 minutes, remove foil and then brown the top for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for about 10 minutes.
Notes
YOUR RISK OF FOODBORNE ILLNESS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE CERTAIN MEDICAL CONDITIONS.