Slightly Simplified Lasagna

I love lasagna, but homemade lasagna is a labor of love. There are some good frozen, pre-made lasagnas out there, but homemade is always better. Something about the cold rainy weather put me in the mood to make a nice big pan.

While visiting friends recently, our host made lasagna by winging it almost entirely. I was very surprised and skeptical, but it turned out delicious. This made me wonder if I was making it too big of a deal in my mind. Could it be less complicated and pulled together relatively quickly?

I admit I didn’t really pay attention to all the steps my friend took, so I poked around the internet a bit and quickly discovered about 30 different variations. I decided to attempt my own version, using a couple of the shortcuts I found out there.

Most recipes start with ground beef and Italian sausage. I even found one that included pepperoni. Personally, I am not a huge fan of Italian sausage, so I eliminated that from my version. If you prefer to include that in your lasagna, go for it. I also like a little less meat and a little more sauce, so I used 1 1/2 pounds of meat, instead of the 2 pounds most recipes use.

You can make a Bolognese sauce from scratch, and that adds a lot of depth when you have the time. But if you want to take a shortcut, you can make a meat sauce using your favorite jarred pasta sauce.

There is also great debate about what to use for noodles. Some love no-boil noodles, others like the tried and true old fashioned noodles. I have tried the no-boil noodles and I find them a little tricky to get the moisture balance right. People love them because they save a step and another dish to clean.

I found a solution for that from another food blogger. Put regular noodles in your 13×9 baking pan, and cover them with boiling water. Let them sit for 30 minutes, moving them around a bit every now and then so they don’t stick together. Once you are ready to use the noodles, pull them out of the water and place them on a plate. Dry out the baking pan and you’re good to go! Your noodles are soft and you have one less pan to clean.

The creamy cheese filling is another point of contention. Traditionally, lasagna uses ricotta, but some of us grew up with small curd cottage cheese mixed in there. Others just don’t like a bumpy texture in their lasagna. It’s really personal. You can choose either of them, or use a combination of the two, or even mix in some sour cream. I chose to use 1 cup ricotta and 2 cups small curd cottage cheese. You can use less than that altogether, if you wish.

The one step you cannot change or alter is the assembly and baking time. You still need to take the time to layer all of that goodness together, one step at a time. And because you have so many yummy layers, it is just going to take awhile to bake through. But if you apply a couple of the shortcuts, you just may find you have demystified homemade lasagna.

If you are wanting to feed a hungry crowd or just craving some Italian comfort food, pull out that 13×9 baking pan and start boiling some water. I love my electric tea kettle for just such a job. Place a full box of lasagna noodles into the bottom of the pan. (You may not need all of the noodles, but I like to cook the whole box in case some get broken, etc.) Pour enough boiling water into the pan to completely cover all of the noodles. Allow them to sit for 30 minutes.

While the noodles are doing their thing, you can assemble your meat sauce. Dice a sweet onion and mince some garlic. Brown your ground beef with the onion and crumble the meat well. I recently acquired a handy tool from a Pampered Chef party that crumbles the meat like magic. It is called the Mix ‘N Chop and it is amazing. I highly recommend it. I have also used it to chop up avocados for guacamole, stewed tomatoes, etc.

After your meat is nicely browned and crumbled, put the minced garlic in the pot and cook another minute or two until the garlic becomes fragrant and soft. Add your favorite jarred pasta sauce and allow the meat sauce to simmer for 20 minutes or so.

While the meat sauce is simmering and the flavors are blending together, use that time to mix up the cheesy filling layer. Fresh basil is always more flavorful, but I didn’t have any on hand, so I used freeze-dried basil. Mix the basil with the cheeses and some egg for binding. Mix it until well-combined.

Once your noodles are soft and ready for layering, remove them from the pan of water and place them on a plate while you dry your baking pan and give it a light coating of cooking spray.

Now you are ready to layer the lasagna. Start with a layer of meat sauce on the bottom of the pan, then layer noodles, the cheese filling, then shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Repeat for a total of 3 layers, then finish it off with one final layer of meat sauce and shredded cheeses.

Heat your oven to 350ºF. Cover the pan well with aluminum foil and bake the lasagna for 30 minutes, and the pan is starting to bubble.

After 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the cheese on the top is melted and the top is beginning to brown.

Personally, the hardest part of lasagna is letting it set after it has cooked. Place it on a trivet on the counter and let it set and begin to cool for 10-15 minutes. This is the key to being able to scoop the slices of lasagna out of the pan and hopefully maintain the stack of layers. Another handy dandy Pampered Chef tool helps with this. It is called the Scoop ‘N Serve Spatula and it is shaped perfectly for getting it all out in one clean scoop. I didn’t take a photo of that tool in action, as I was way too hungry to take the time for that.

Serve it with a nice green salad and crusty bread for mopping up the sauce and you have a perfect meal.

I made this giant pan of rich, filling pasta and there were only 3 of us here to eat it the first night. But the best news about lasagna is that it only gets better as leftovers. This recipe makes 12 generous servings, so it is great for a crowd. But if you know you won’t make it through the leftovers quickly enough, you can freeze any remaining servings individually in freezer storage bags, or place it all in a freezer safe container. To cook frozen leftovers, bake at 350ºF for 30-35 minutes or until heated through.

We are slated for even more rain this weekend, so it might be the perfect time to master your lasagna game.