steve is mean. he dissed my breakfasty eggs. boo hoo. i am cracking under the pressure.
anyway... last night i made lasagna for dinner. it's a recipe i made up (sort of). it's got all the usual stuff in it: tomatoes, dried spices, cheese, fresh basil, some ground beef i had in the freezer and i needed to use up, and various vegetables.
the sauce recipe originates from a consumer reports magazine article about jarred spaghetti sauce. i got it from my dad years ago, and over the years, i have varied it a lot. one thing that hasn't changed is the ratio of tomatoes: 1 28oz can pureed and 1 28oz can crushed. things i HAVE changed include: the amount of garlic and onion i add (a WHOLE lot compared to what the recipe originally called for)and the couple spoonfuls of honey or sugar i add to cut the acidity.
i saute the onion & garlic in olive oil, add the meat, cook with the spices until it loses its pink color, dump in the tomatoes, and let it cook on low heat for a few hours. while that's cooking i make the ricotta filling with 15oz ricotta, 2 eggs, a handful of chopped fresh basil, and some salt & pepper. that goes in the fridge until i'm ready to assemble.
if i feel like i need some vegetables, i slice zucchini & eggplant & use that instead of noodles, or i just layer in whatever veg i have in the fridge. spinach, mushroom, & red pepper makes a good combo too. to assemble, i ladle some sauce into the bottom of the pan, followed by, eggplant, the ricotta mixture, shredded cheese, & more sauce. repeat for the next layer except use zucchini. (my only wish is that i had a nice deep lasagna pan. as it stands, my little pyrex 13x9 can only take about 2 or 3 layers) top it off with a cup or so of some kind of grated cheese. i used a combo of parm & romano.
here's the finished product after cooking in the oven at 375 for 1 hour. it was really tasty with some garlic bread.
on a side note, this weekend i read a book called "i love you beth cooper" written by larry doyle and illustrated by evan dorkin. it was hilarious. go buy it, or get it from your local library like we did.
2 comments:
Miss Jenny Knittermonkey, Even though I'm mean and say cruel things to you, I still love you.
Would you have it any other way?
I like the tweaks you made to the site. Also, nice use of veggies as noodles. I don't think I've seen that done in lasagna before.
dear professor-
of course i wouldn't have it any other way! all in good fun, right?
as far as the veggies as noodles, i thought i made it up, but my dad said grandma used to make it like that sometimes too. i don't remember that, so i guess i just retained it subconsciously:)
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