My Lasagna

Like so many recipes (potato salad, meatloaf, chocolate chip cookies, etc.) I mostly make this from memory adlibbing as I go. Also, like all those recipes, sometimes the results are great, sometimes good, and sometimes not so good; and, often I’m not sure why. However, I am making lasagna today and thought I’d write out what I’m doing in hopes that this is one of those times that it is great (or at least very good) since we are having company tomorrow and it is what they will be served.

Ingredients

• Ground Meat – app 3 lbs (I usually mix any combination of ground meat: beef/turkey/chicken/lamb/Italian sausage but try to include some Italian sausage, if it is for adults I use spicy Italian sausage, but if children are eating it, I use sweet/regular and minimize the spicy or leave it out)
• Onion – 1 small, diced
• Celery – about 2 stalks , dliced
• Garlic – 2 cloves, minced
• Green Pepper – 1 smallchopped
• Spaghetti Sauce – 1 jar (you can use whatever, even homemade, but I usually use Ragu Garden Vegetable variety because I like the vegetables that they include)
• Tomato Paste – 1 small can
• Red Wine – about 1/2-1 cup (I usually use cheap because most of it will cook off)
• Lasagna Noodles – 1 box; you most likely will only use about 2/3rds of the box, so you may not want to cook all the noodles (I do NOT use the precooked kind, but I guess you could try them and see if they work)
• Cottage Cheese – small curd regular (not lowfat) -I usually buy 2 large containers but don’t use all of it; it takes about 1 1/2 large containers or buy 1 large and 1 small
• Mozzarella Cheese (I’ve used both grated and sliced, whatever you prefer, although you will need to grate some to add it to the cottage cheese); you will need a lot – buy about 4 cups worth whether its a block, grated, sliced or a combination of types
• Parmesan Cheese – about 1/2 cup
• Egg – 1
• Dried Parsley -2 TBSPs to 1/4 cup
• Salt/Pepper

Method

1. Brown all the ground meats with the onion, celery, and green pepper. Drain off all the grease (sometimes I do this twice, but I do try to get the final mix to be fairly ‘dry’).
2. When the meat is brown and drained, add the spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, and wine and let the whole mix simmer for quite awhile. The trick here is to keep it at a nice consistency w/o splattering. So, I often cover it but leave space for heat to escape, so that when it has simmered long enough (at least an hour, but sometimes I’ll go longer) it is not soupy, but fairly thick, but still not thick enough that it sticks to the bottom of the pan or anything – like a nice thick spaghetti sauce. I often take this and set it aside/refrigerate it for a day or so until I’m ready to make the lasagna. If you do make it ahead of time (and I sort of recommend this because it gets rid of some of the mess and lets the flavors meld) then just warm up the mixture when you are ready to put the lasagna together.
3. Boil the lasagna noodles. I usually have to do in batches 5-6 and then I put them on paper towels to dry (this can be messy). But again, I’m trying for non-soggy lasagna.
4. Mix the cottage cheese (the amount is a little difficult to judge, my best guest is a large container and a small container, but start with just the large container) with the egg, parsley, a cup of grated mozzarella, the parmesan cheese, and salt & pepper to taste. Again, I’m flexible with the amounts, but what I like is that it is not runny, but easily spreadable.
5. Grease a 13X9 inch pan (or equivalent) – you can grease however you want, but try to get the sides pretty well because this is where the sticking will occur.
6. Layer the 4 components: ground meat / cheese mixture /mozzarella/noodles in that order 2-3 layers depending on how many ingredients you have and how big your pan is but ending with meat sauce and mozzarella cheese on top (most recipes do not call for the layer of mozzarella on top of the cottage cheese, so you can use your own judgement; I do go light
7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 mins until bubbly (it often takes longer, just keep checking until you see that it is pretty hot/bubbling on the edges) then remove the foil and bake for another 15 mins. Let set before serving* *I recommend baking the day before and then reheating (w foil on until the last 10 mins or so) because it always tastes better after it is reheated, but sometimes you don’t have this luxury, so just hope for the best.
8. You will probably wind up with odd amounts: too much of a particular layer, but there are lots of things you can do with any of them – fill ricotta shells with the cheese mixture, use the sauce for pasta, etc. Even though it seems like a long recipe it is really easy, just a lot of steps.