If I just wanted a pile of sauce and noodles on my plate, I'd get spaghetti. Lasagna is a beautiful layered blend of noodles, meats, sauce and cheeses. Yes, CHEESES!! Not just one. And don't forget the herbs and spices. These will save your lasagna and take it from being a "meh" dish to being a requested dinner.
Lets start with noodles. There are two ways to do lasagna noodles. You can cook them first before assembling your dish or you can use them uncooked. I prefer the uncooked version for several reasons:
- Your lasagna won't run as much of a risk of being water and sloppy.
- You cut out an entire step of having to first cook the noodles.
- Your noodles are cooked in a mixture of sauce and meat drippings so it retains more flavor withing that layer.
Next comes the meat. Ground beef or turkey are the usual suspects for this, but why not mix it up? You could try Italian sausage or even just a breakfast sausage that you spice up yourself. However you do it, keep your herbs and spices right next to you. If I don't have sausage on hand, I'd go to the basic of ground beef/turkey. However, when you're browning it up, SPICE IT UP BABY! Add "Italian" or "Pizza" seasoning, extra garlic (grate in or press in a clove), salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes and... fennel. Yes, fennel. This is what gives your meat that smokey/spicy sausagey taste. It adds so much more flavor to your dish. You can also saute onions and chopped garlic cloves if you like that.
If you want to be extra sneaky, go ahead and grate in a zucchini and a carrot while sauteing the onions/garlic. It adds extra veggies and who will know? Only you.
Another main player in a lasagna is Ricotta. I've never liked it. It was always thick, bland and the texture was just revolting... rubbery and gloppy. Yuck. However, you don't have to bow down and accept this layer of blandness. What's my motto? SPICE IT UP! Dump your container of Ricotta in a bowl. Get your seasonings again. Add salt first. This will liven up the flavor of the cheese. Then add in freshly ground black pepper, Italian blend seasonings and GARLIC! Don't be shy, whoever heard of too much garlic in an Italian dish? Not this girl. Blend all the seasonings into the cheese. Now, to help with even spread-ability in your dish, add some milk until the cheese is a medium thickness that will hold but is still able to be spread across your noodles with ease.
Next is your grated cheese. I like to use a couple different kinds. I like an Italian blend of cheeses to run throughout the lasagna. Adding in all the Provolone, Parmesan, Fontina, plus Romano and Asiago in addition to the normal Mozzarella adds so much more smokieness, tang and just plain deliciousness. However, I always do a plain (think shredded) Mozzarella for the top. I like to use thick shreds because it melts better. The thin shreds tend to bake into a crispy shell, and I don't know about you, but I like my cheese nice and melty.
Sauce. The glue of this deliciously, layered feast. If you have already cooked your noodles, you don't need to add as much sauce. However, if you're using raw noodles, you'll need a lot. Whether you use jarred or make your own, don't be stingy, but don't use too much either. I don't have an exact science for this, you just need to eyeball it.
So now that we have all our individual layers made, we move on to assembly...
- Put a cup of sauce on the bottom of your pan. You can use a glass 9x13 or an Oblong or round Corningware dish. I prefer Corningware because its sides are taller and you won't risk boiling over in the oven. However, it's a little more annoying with breaking the noodles to fit right.
- Noodles - slightly overlapped but it's ok if they don't reach the sides completely. They'll expand as they cook.
- 1/3 of Ricotta mixture spread evenly across noodles.
- 1/3 meat mixture
- 1 cup Italian blend cheese
- Sauce. Put enough sauce that everything is evenly covered.
- Noodles
- 1/3 Ricotta
- 1/3 meat
- 1 cup Italian blend cheese
- Sauce
- Noodles
- The rest of the Ricotta
- The rest of the meat
- Sauce
- Mozzarella
Bake this bad boy at 350 for 45 minutes covered (If you don't have a lid for your dish, use foil). Then uncover it and bake for another 15 minutes. If you need to add more cheese, feel free :)
Before you serve, let the lasagna sit for 10 minutes or so. This gives everything a chance to redistribute and solidify a bit before cutting. It helps to avoid sloppiness.
Enjoy!
