Lasagne

Posted by suanne Published in 2007, Pasta

You all know I did not get to go to Europe with Ben. :-( Despite that, I enjoyed reading his blog entries and I felt like I’m with him on the journey. Well, I had a good break from blogging for a month and now the baton is back to me.

Minoo made Lasagne in the Caring Place community kitchen. Lasagne is the name of the pasta sheet and also the name of the dish made with alternate layers of pasta sheets, cheese and meat sauce (also known as ragu). The pasta sheets are often rippled in North America and other countries but seldom in Italy, the place where Lasagne originated.

You may double the recipe below to make two trays and freeze one of it for a convenient meal later when you do not have the time to cook.

Lasagne is also great for potluck and is always a popular dish that leaves an empty tray. Kids will love this cheesy dish.

Ingredients

Meat sauce:

1/2 lb hamburger (ground beef)
3/4 to 1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic
3 cups tomato sauce
2 cups tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
dash of black pepper or more if you preferred
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (or 1 tablespoon dried parsley)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried oregano

Cheese sauce:

2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs
4 tablespoons chopped parsley

Other ingredients:

8 oz lasagne noodles
1 lb Mozzarella cheese, grated

One little tip on the Lasagne noodle is to get the oven ready ones so that you dont have to pre-cook the noodle, less hassle.

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3 comments

Apr

Spaghetti with Meatballs

Posted by suanne Published in Pasta

Ben started biking to work again having been driving to work for the past three months. He did not say it but I think he’s doing it because of the price of gas these days. Gosh! It is $1.16 per litre today. To think that just a couple of months ago, anything over $1 were considered outrageous.

Anyway, knowing that he would want to carbo-load with his biking and all, I thought I make good old meatball spaghetti. Arkensen and Nanzaro loves that too. I like to add lots of chopped onions and garlic and with liberal sprinkle of Parmesan.

I learned to make spaghetti only when we got to Canada and did it my way. So, I am not very sure if this is the “normal” way spaghetti was made. Let me know if I am doing differently from the way you make it — I would most certainly want to learn from you.

Ingredients

Oh yeah, I like to use Mrs Dash for seasoning. It’s much more healthier using Mrs Dash compared to salt. If you have never tried it, you should check it out. It goes so well with so many types of dishes that you’ll be amazed. Here are the ingredients:

Frozen Meatballs: I had that box in my fridge for 3 months now. Good to use that today and free up some space in the ice box. I only used half the box … still …
Mrs Dash for seasoning
Pasta Sauce
Spaghettini: I used spaghettini instead of spaghetti; I like the thinner version in spaghettini,
Onion
Garlic
Parsley
Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

Well, this is the simple step. It’s not like anyone does not know that you need to thaw and cook the frozen meatballs! Duh …

Chop the garlic, onion and parsley …

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 7-8 minutes.

I fried the onion until it’s soft and then add the garlic. Stir fry for a few seconds. Next, I added the pasta sauce and Mrs Dash seasoning. I also added a laddle of the pasta water to dilute the sauce — it gets too thick if I don’t dilute it. To balance the tartness of the tomato sauce, I added in a tablespoon of brown sugar.

The meatballs go into the sauce and cook for another minute or two. Actually, this is the first time I use meatballs. I normally use ground beef.Lastly, I added the parsley and turned off the stove immediately as not to overcook the parsley.