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.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350F.
 Saute the onion and garlic until the onion is softened. |
 Add the hamburger to brown the meat. Add the remaining of the sauce ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. |
 While the meat sauce is simmering, prepare the cheese sauce by combining the cottage cheese, eggs, chopped parsley and Parmesan cheese.
Mix well and refrigerate until the meat sauce is ready. |
 Coat the bottom of a greased dish with half of the meat sauce. |
 Layer the Lasagne noodles on top of the meat sauces. |
 On top of the noodle, sprinkle half of the grated Mozzarella. |
 Top with half of the cottage cheese mixture. |
 Repeat the layering process but this time leave the grated Mozarella as the last layer. While layering the Lasagne noodles, press them down so that they are immersed in the meat sauce to ensure the noodles are cooked through. Otherwise you may repeat the layering with noodles, meat sauce, cottage cheese and grated mozzarella. Sprinkle more parmesan cheese on top if you preferred. |
 Bake in the 350F oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Allow the Lasagne to cool down a little before slicing it so that it can set properly. |
You may also make a Lasagne with spinach for a more healthy version. Minoo, thank you sharing this Italian classic with us.
Mmm that looks marvelous. Can’t remember the last time I made lasagna, or even ordered it when eating out !
For you vegetarians (I’m not, but I try veggie subsitutes from time to time), you can make perfect lasgana using Yves Ground Round, a flavoured tofu product chopped up to resemble ground beef. Use straight out of the package (already edible) as you would with ground beef in any recipes. And if you’re vegan or lactose-intolerant, for the cheeses of course you can always use soy versions.
Anyway, twice I’ve made this vegetarian lasagna (only meat substitute is the Yves) for potlucks and the people eating it had absolutely no idea it wasn’t real meat (until I told them).
My husband and I love lasagna and I would make it from time to time. I guess there are many different ways of making lasagna and I would need to post my own version someday. Interesting version that you had, maybe I should try it one day.
Thank you for the recipe. My husband and I tried it out for the first time tonight and it was very yummy! We really liked the cottage cheese!
Hi Suanne
thanks very much for the recipe. I made the lasagna tonight and it was wonderful! I love the way you present all the ingredients used in an initial photo and the the great shots of the step by step process.
I threw in some chili peppers to spice things up and I think it worked well.
Dandel