Thursday, October 1, 2015

Who doesn't love Lasagna?

I confess I could eat Lasagna every day.  It is so delicious, and so bad for you.  And--a pain to make.  A friend shared a recipe that simplifies the process, and I have played with over several years, and I am happy with my present version.  We had it again the other night, and GF asked for the recipe, so I decided to put it up here on good ol' Grammy Confesses.  I hope you give it a try!

No Boil No Bake Lasagna

First, the sauce:

1 lb ground beef (recipe says "or half ground pork"--bet it would be awesome with Italian sausage...)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1-28 oz can tomatoes (you can use crushed, or whole that you have put through the food processor)
1 Tbs dried oregano
2 Tsp dried basil
1 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp black pepper
2 Tsp brown sugar
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

Brown  the beef, add in the onion and after it looks softened, add in the garlic, and cook until fragrant. Then add the tomatoes, and all the rest.  This doesn't need to simmer more than a couple of minutes before you turn off the heat.

Next:
9 lasagna noodles--the regular kind, right out of the box
2 c ricotta
8 oz shredded mozzarella

Put the noodles into a flat pan filled with water, and leave them there while you hunt up a baking dish that will fit into your microwave.  (Mine measures 7 1/2x11" inside dimensions, and is perfect for three noodles.)  Spoon about 1/4 of the sauce into the bottom of the baking dish--I kind of scoop up the tomato, leaving the meat for the middle, but it doesn't matter.  Lay in the first three noodles over the sauce.  Put half the ricotta in spoonfuls on top of the noodles, and spread it out as best you can.  Sprinkle on half the mozzarella, and cover with another 1/4 of the sauce.  Do another layer the same way, using most of the meat into the two center layers, with the last layer of noodles on top, and cover with the last of the sauce.  (You don't have to be scrupulous about the meat...)

Cover the baking dish with waxed paper.  I cut a long piece that will tuck under the short ends of the baking dish to keep most of the steam in.  Set the dish onto the microwave tray, and rotate it to check that those ends are underneath.  Microwave for 33 minutes.  Now for the tricky part.  I use 80% power--high is too much, and medium is too low.  I don't know how your's will work, so you just have to give it a shot.  The top noodles should be soft, but not dried out, the sauce and cheeses set up, not loose.

Remove the waxed paper, and sprinkle with 1/2 c Parmesan cheese, and microwave for another 5 minutes. Let it rest another 5-10 minutes before cutting.  

The last time I made this, I let it sit for quite a while before we were ready to eat, doing the last microwaving when we were ready for it, and it was perfect--noodles soft, cheeses all firmed up nicely.  I would never go back to wrestling with cooked, slippery noodles again!