Lasagna

September 18, 2015

Lasagna

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef

Onion, diced

Garlic

Worcestershire sauce

Balsamic vinegar

Italian herbs

   Basil

   Thyme

   Oregano

   small amount of red pepper flakes

   Almost no fennel*

Olive oil

1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 6 ounce can tomato paste

2 eggs

1 container cottage cheese

Mozzarella cheese

Lasagna noodles

Editor's Note: If you decide to use fennel, grind your own seeds and only use, seriously, no more than 5 seeds. It is a very strong flavour but a welcome edition.

Directions:

Brown ground beef with onions and garlic in small amount of olive oil

Add cans of tomatoes and Italian spices as desired

Simmer for 45-60 min. Add dash of Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar as desired

Boil noodles as per directions

Add 2 eggs, salt pepper and parsley to cottage cheese, mix well

Layer meat, noodle, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, repeat ending with a layer of noodles and then mozzarella cheese to cover

Bake 50 min at 350 covered

Bake 15 min more uncovered

Let sit 10-15 before serving

Author’s Note: My editor tried to sneak fresh leaf spinach into the recipe thinking I wouldn’t notice. It’s not that I don't think spinach has a place in a lasagna, but not in MY lasagna. I wouldn’t turn down a portion if someone else made it, but I'm not going to put it willingly into my own. I don't have anything against spinach on principle, just like a non-veggie lasagna. Also, make sure to use a GOOD balsamic vinegar. If you don't have any, you should get some, or just leave it out. Oh, and don't even start on me about using cottage cheese. I know, it’s “unauthentic”, I don't have Ricotta, and it's expensive, I eat cottage cheese so, I don't care, it's my recipe.

Editor's Note:  If you DO want to add some green, aside from the herbs of course, lightly layer spinach in two of the layers. I prefer to add after the cottage cheese layers.

Tonight’s version worked out very well. I was a little concerned because I made the sauce the night before, and didn't have time to warm it up before layering everything. This made the sauce a fair bit thicker than I would have liked it, and ended up causing there to only be two layers of meat instead of my usual 3. I just made up for it with more cheese. You can -almost- never go wrong with more cheese.

A recent thing I have discovered is letting the lasagna “rest” after coming out of the oven, this will allow things to firm up a bit, and avoid the highly undesirable soupy effect that can happen if you are too impatient. Don't worry, it won't get cold, in fact, you might want to let it rest anyway just to cool off a bit, molten cheese can hurt.

Serve with the classics of garlic bread and caesar salad, or do whatever you want. Great date night meal, freezes very well, and can be made ahead of time if you want.

Cheers and Best Wishes!

The Omnomnivore

P.S I am going to a wedding tomorrow night, so it will be my first time reviewing someone else's food. I'm kind of excited.