Lasagna

Last night, upon Peter's request, I made lasagna. I haven't made one in a long time, but I have to say...it turned out really well. I made it with ground veal, but you can use ground beef, or no meat at all. I made my own sauce, but you can of course use a jar instead. I was also able to find some really good fresh lasagna noodles that didn't need to be boiled prior to going in the oven. I used a 8x8 pan so my recipe is a bit smaller than some of those that call for a 9x13 pan.



Sauce:
olive oil
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 oz. can chopped Italian tomatoes
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 cup hot water
1 Tbl oregano
1/4 cup red wine

1 package lasagna noodles
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
4 Tbl pesto
1 lb ground veal
2 cloves garlic, minced

If your lasagna noodles require boiling, set a large pot of water to heat up while you prepare the sauce and veal.

Get the sauce going first - this can simmer while you do everything else. In a medium saucepan heat up some olive oil and saute the onion and garlic. I used about 2/3 of the half onion here and saved the rest for the veal. After about 5 minutes add the tomato paste, canned tomatoes, and water. Stir until smooth. Add the oregano and red wine and let simmer.

Heat up olive oil, the rest of the chopped onion, and 2 cloves minced garlic in a medium skillet. After a few minutes add the ground veal, breaking it up in the pan. Let veal cook through, until no longer pink.

Boil your lasagna noodles. I didn't have to cook my noodles, but some recipes say to lay cooked noodles on a damp kitchen towel to keep them from sticking to each other. You could also drain them and add some cold water to the pot to keep them from sticking, and from continuing to cook in the hot water. Just make sure to pat them dry before layering into the baking dish.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the ricotta and pesto in a bowl. Add a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the baking dish, to keep your first layer of noodles from sticking. Add a layer of noodles, not overlapping. Next spread some of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle mozzarella, then parmesan, then some of the meat, and lastly spoon some sauce over everything. Then start over - noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, meat, sauce. Keep layering until the dish is full and you've used all your ingredients. For the top layer I did just noodles, then sauce and the cheeses on the top. Lightly cover with foil and cook about 35 minutes. Take the foil off and put under the broiler for just a couple minutes at the end, to brown the cheese on the top. **If your baking dish is really full to the top, put a layer of foil under it in the oven to prevent any spillover from dripping onto the oven.

Before


After


Garfield loves lasagna