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Message
Lasagna - A Christmas Meal in Progress (photos)
Posted on 12/22/13 at 12:39 am
Posted on 12/22/13 at 12:39 am
We will have a house full of family this next week, beginning sometime around 2:00 am tonight when the son from Pennsylvania gets here. The wife (MHNBPF) allowed me (with close supervision) to make her famous lasagna recipe for storage in the freezer until Christmas eve, when both sons and their families will be here for our traditional Noel family meal of lasagna. As strange as it sounds, it is the requested holiday meal by both sons. At the moment the dish is complete, just not baked. I'll add more photos to the post after we pull the prepped dish from the freezer and bake it off.
Hopefully this will feed ten. To make the meat sauce, you'll need:
2 1/4 pounds ground beef
12 ounces (5 links)of Italian Sausage - edited to add - I remove the casing for lasagna
1 Large onion (diced)
1 Large bell pepper (diced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 cans tomato sauce
2 cans tomato paste
3 Tablespoons Oregano
2 Tablespoons Basil
1 Tablespoon Thyme
2 Tablespoons olive oil
A splash of red wine
12 ounces of mushrooms
Salt
Other needed stuff
Lasagna noodles
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
10 ounces chopped spinach
1 1/2 cups Cottage or Romano cheese
1 egg (only one)
Brown the hamburger and Italian sausage with black pepper and a little salt.
As it browns, add onion, bell pepper and garlic;
Remove the meat and set aside. Then sauté the mushrooms in a little olive oil.
and deglaze the pan with a splash of red wine.
in a suitable pan, add the large can of diced tomatoes, meat, mushroom, two cans of tomato sauce, two cans of tomato paste, 2 cups of water, 2 Tablespoons of finely chopped basil, 3 Tablespoons of oregano and a Tablespoon of Thyme. Simmer for two hours on low heat.
Our lasagna pan will hold four layers of four noodles per layer.
The noodles are cooked in salted water at a steady boil (for about 10 minutes), then quenched in cool water.
There are three cheeses in our lasagna
mozzarella,
cottage, which is mixed with drained chopped spinach and an egg and Parmesan.
Time to build the dish.
Spray the pan with pam and then add a light layer of sauce.
The first noodle layer goes on top of the sauce.
Next a thicker layer of sauce.
mozzarella, then parmesan
and the spinach, cottage cheese and egg mixture.
This process is repeated until all four layers of noodles are stacked.
Then a final layer of sauce, mozzarella and parmesan.
This prepped dish will not be baked off for three days. As I type this, it is in the freezer awaiting the oven on Christmas eve.
More later. By the way, this dish preps up ahead really nicely. We have done this before. As long as you protect the contents from drying, you can freeze an uncooked lasagna for several weeks. It also freezes well after you bake it off as long as you protect it from drying out.
edited to add - although we will thaw ours for a full day in the refrigerator before cooking it, you can cook frozen lasagna from frozen if you seal the dish tightly with foil and add a little water. It will take longer, but we usually use a thermometer when we cook it to make certain the inside is hot, even if we thaw it in the refrigerator for a day or two before cooking it. From frozen, I'd cook it for an hour and a half sealed with foil at and oven temp of 350. The internal temp should be 225 or above because that makes certain the cheese has melted and after resting, the "block" will set up nicely. I like mine bubbly when it comes out of the oven, so moisture is important when cooking lasagna that has been frozen. Add maybe a quarter cup of water over the top before it goes into the oven and maybe also drizzle a little melted butter over the top.
Hopefully this will feed ten. To make the meat sauce, you'll need:
2 1/4 pounds ground beef
12 ounces (5 links)of Italian Sausage - edited to add - I remove the casing for lasagna
1 Large onion (diced)
1 Large bell pepper (diced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 cans tomato sauce
2 cans tomato paste
3 Tablespoons Oregano
2 Tablespoons Basil
1 Tablespoon Thyme
2 Tablespoons olive oil
A splash of red wine
12 ounces of mushrooms
Salt
Other needed stuff
Lasagna noodles
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
10 ounces chopped spinach
1 1/2 cups Cottage or Romano cheese
1 egg (only one)
Brown the hamburger and Italian sausage with black pepper and a little salt.
As it browns, add onion, bell pepper and garlic;
Remove the meat and set aside. Then sauté the mushrooms in a little olive oil.
and deglaze the pan with a splash of red wine.
in a suitable pan, add the large can of diced tomatoes, meat, mushroom, two cans of tomato sauce, two cans of tomato paste, 2 cups of water, 2 Tablespoons of finely chopped basil, 3 Tablespoons of oregano and a Tablespoon of Thyme. Simmer for two hours on low heat.
Our lasagna pan will hold four layers of four noodles per layer.
The noodles are cooked in salted water at a steady boil (for about 10 minutes), then quenched in cool water.
There are three cheeses in our lasagna
mozzarella,
cottage, which is mixed with drained chopped spinach and an egg and Parmesan.
Time to build the dish.
Spray the pan with pam and then add a light layer of sauce.
The first noodle layer goes on top of the sauce.
Next a thicker layer of sauce.
mozzarella, then parmesan
and the spinach, cottage cheese and egg mixture.
This process is repeated until all four layers of noodles are stacked.
Then a final layer of sauce, mozzarella and parmesan.
This prepped dish will not be baked off for three days. As I type this, it is in the freezer awaiting the oven on Christmas eve.
More later. By the way, this dish preps up ahead really nicely. We have done this before. As long as you protect the contents from drying, you can freeze an uncooked lasagna for several weeks. It also freezes well after you bake it off as long as you protect it from drying out.
edited to add - although we will thaw ours for a full day in the refrigerator before cooking it, you can cook frozen lasagna from frozen if you seal the dish tightly with foil and add a little water. It will take longer, but we usually use a thermometer when we cook it to make certain the inside is hot, even if we thaw it in the refrigerator for a day or two before cooking it. From frozen, I'd cook it for an hour and a half sealed with foil at and oven temp of 350. The internal temp should be 225 or above because that makes certain the cheese has melted and after resting, the "block" will set up nicely. I like mine bubbly when it comes out of the oven, so moisture is important when cooking lasagna that has been frozen. Add maybe a quarter cup of water over the top before it goes into the oven and maybe also drizzle a little melted butter over the top.
This post was edited on 12/22/13 at 1:00 pm
Posted on 12/22/13 at 12:50 am to MeridianDog
I like it...I'm sure there are some here who won't care for the cottage cheese over ricotta, but I think it looks good. (I usually do a half-ricotta and half-cottage mix, because I find ricotta too dry and cottage too wet for my tastes.)
Questions:
Did you remove the casings from the Italian sausage before browning?
Do you thaw it before it goesinto the oven, and if so, how long?
How long do you cook it?
Questions:
Did you remove the casings from the Italian sausage before browning?
Do you thaw it before it goesinto the oven, and if so, how long?
How long do you cook it?
This post was edited on 12/22/13 at 12:50 am
Posted on 12/22/13 at 12:53 am to MeridianDog
Looks good, IWDI. (Devour)
We must have had the same idea. I made a white chicken lasagna tonight.
We must have had the same idea. I made a white chicken lasagna tonight.
Posted on 12/22/13 at 12:55 am to MeridianDog
you can keep the mushrooms, cottage cheese and boxed spinach and I'd be all over that. bet the fam will enjoy the feast.
Posted on 12/22/13 at 1:18 am to Dorothy
quote:
Questions: Did you remove the casings from the Italian sausage before browning? Do you thaw it before it goesinto the oven, and if so, how long? How long do you cook it?
Yes I remove the casings from the Italian Sausage.
To cook it Wednesday, we will pull it Tuesday and let it defrost in the fridge. Cook at 350 until it is bubbly - maybe an hour. Then it MUST rest for at least 15 minutes before cutting it to serve.
We usually do it with half ricotta and half cottage cheese too. We didn't get ricotta, but we have done it with just cottage cheese in the past - it will be fine as is.
Posted on 12/22/13 at 2:25 am to MeridianDog
I prefer cottage cheese to ricotta in lasagna also. Occasionally, I also mix the two, but cottage is by far my favorite.
Posted on 12/22/13 at 4:52 am to MeridianDog
I like the spinach addition.
Posted on 12/22/13 at 7:15 am to Degas
Looks good! I am not a fan of cottage cheese. I would much rather ricotta but that is not my lasagna
Posted on 12/22/13 at 7:44 am to fatboydave
Large curd cottage cheese + cracked pepper + spoon = win.
Posted on 12/22/13 at 8:35 am to MeridianDog
MD, I found your lasagna recipe through the search function last weekend and made it. Came out fantastic, gave you a shout out in the "WFDT" last Sunday.
I also made your crawfish lasagna, it's in the freezer.
I also made your crawfish lasagna, it's in the freezer.
Posted on 12/22/13 at 8:44 am to MeridianDog
I want lasagna... NOW!
If it tastes half as good as it looks, you'll be having a happy Christmas Eve. Thanks for the recipe and pics!
If it tastes half as good as it looks, you'll be having a happy Christmas Eve. Thanks for the recipe and pics!
Posted on 12/22/13 at 12:27 pm to LEASTBAY
I'm not crazy about Italian sausage in lasagna, but a little bit is OK. I like a bit of cheddar for about a third of the cheese. Cottage cheese is OK, but Ricotta is better.
Yours looks great MD!
Yours looks great MD!
Posted on 12/22/13 at 12:51 pm to MNCscripper
quote:
I found your lasagna recipe through the search function
Thanks for the shout out. I did eventually see it. we are big lasagna people at our house. Standard, Chicken, crawfish, veggie - I like all of them.
For those who prefer Romano over cottage, or blends of various types, or whatever, we do it your way, too. mostly depends on what we have in the cheese drawer when we decide to do lasagna. All in all, I prefer cottage to Romano. I also like a lot of Parmesan.
A bit of information. All of my photo posts are linked in one post on page 2 of jibbajabba's stickeyed "A collection of recipes w/photos" string at the top of the page. When I do a new one, I just add it to that post. I think there are over 50 of them.
jibbajabba - if you see this, there are probably posts I have linked in my post there that you don't have linked in your OP summary post.
This post was edited on 12/22/13 at 2:53 pm
Posted on 12/22/13 at 2:30 pm to MeridianDog
Ok. I'll chime in here.
First, I find the johnsonville sausage inedible. I tried it once and tossed it after trying.
I usually use a pork and veal for my lasagna and no mushrooms in the sauce.
Cottage cheese, I haven't found a use for it. Others seem to share your appreciation but not me. I think ricotta is the texture and flavor perfect for lasagna.
I do like the spinach and usually add that myself. I tend to use bunched spinch as the frozen holds water even if you drain it.
Love the idea, lasagna is great in any weather. Merry Christmas, all!
I have some days off coming up and may throw a lasagna up for review.
First, I find the johnsonville sausage inedible. I tried it once and tossed it after trying.
I usually use a pork and veal for my lasagna and no mushrooms in the sauce.
Cottage cheese, I haven't found a use for it. Others seem to share your appreciation but not me. I think ricotta is the texture and flavor perfect for lasagna.
I do like the spinach and usually add that myself. I tend to use bunched spinch as the frozen holds water even if you drain it.
Love the idea, lasagna is great in any weather. Merry Christmas, all!
I have some days off coming up and may throw a lasagna up for review.
Posted on 12/22/13 at 4:26 pm to Oenophile Brah
That looks excellent
Posted on 12/22/13 at 6:00 pm to eyepooted
i dont use ricotta or cottage.
Posted on 12/22/13 at 6:06 pm to MeridianDog
quote:
Crawfish
Thawed out today, preheating the oven
Posted on 12/24/13 at 10:25 pm to Oenophile Brah
quote:
I have some days off coming up and may throw a lasagna up for review.
Please do. I fear sometimes people may be looking for other recipes but this is all that's available.
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