Receta Now That is Using Your Noodle!
Yesterday, I was a nostalgic mood, so I decided to cook one of the first recipes I can ever remember making on my own, lasagna! The original recipe that I have is very basic, which makes it so easy to leave it as is or change it up to fit my mood (or what is available in the fridge). I cannot count the number of times I have made this recipe over the years. It traditionally became my "welcome to the neighborhood" or "congrats on the new baby" or "hope you have a speedy recovery from your surgery", or best yet "I don't feel like making dinner tonight, let's have lasagna!" dish. At any given time, you can find up to 4 lasagnas frozen in my freezer! I decided years ago, that it is just as easy to make four as it is one, and they freeze so wonderfully! You can thaw them in the fridge the night before or if you are in a rush, bake them frozen!
The biggest difference between last night's lasagna and the ones that I have been making for years and years (yes, I am that old) was that I attempted to make my own noodles and not use the hard, store-bought ones that really don't add much flavor. So out came my Kitchenaid mixer and my pasta maker again. The recipe I used in the same one from my last post "Fresh From the Sea and Saucy Like Me"
I added 4 eggs, 1 tablespoon of water, 3 1/2 cups of flour, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to my mixer bowl, attached the flat beater, and mixed the ingredients on Speed 2 for 30 seconds. I stopped the mixer and exchanged the flat beater for dough hook and turned it back up to Speed 2 and kneaded the dough for 2 minutes, stopping once to scrape the bowl and add a little additional water since it appeared to be too dry and crumbly. Once done, I removed the dough from bowl and hand kneaded it for 1 to 2 minutes, then wrapped in plastic wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes while I made the sauce.
First, I sauteed the onion and garlic in a little oil. I had some mushrooms that needed to be used, so I sliced them as well and put them in, stirred for a minute or so, and then added the ground meat and seasonings and cooked everything until the meat was crumbly. I then added the tomato paste and hot water and simmered the mixture over low heat. Hope you don't mind the interrruption of the cooking, but there is a funny little side story I would like to share about garlic and my husband. Years ago, he did an unaccompanied tour in Korea. During the time he was gone, he and a couple of other guys decided they were getting tired of mess hall food and would take turns cooking dinner. I sent him many of his favorite recipes, but forgot one thing: he was not much of a cook at that time, which meant I really need to spell things out for him. He fessed up later that he did struggle with many of the recipes and some were not as good as mine, especially the lasagna. Turns out, he confused a clove of garlic with a head of garlic! Oh well, at least no vampires were around that evening!
I mixed up the eggs and cottage cheese and place that in the fridge while I played with the pasta dough. This is where I have to admit that I am not very coordinated. Because of that, I have to divide the dough into fourths to make it easier for me to handle. If I don't divide it and try to work with too much dough, I end up with such a mess and get so frustrated. So I only work with one fourth at a time, keeping the remaining dough covered so it will not dry out. I set the adjustment knob on Pasta Sheet Roller at 1, turned my mixer to Speed 2 and fed my first piece of flattened dough into the rollers.
I folded the dough in half and rolled it again. I repeated folding and feeding the dough through the rollers about 5 times, just enough until the dough is smooth and pliable. I needed to lightly dust the pasta with flour while rolling it to keep it from sticking. I then repeated the process with the remaining dough, laying each sheet on a lightly floured baking sheet. I then moved the adjustment knob to setting 2 and fed the dough through the rollers to flatten it even further. After all of the pieces had been fed through again, I changed to setting 3 and feed dough through rollers once more. At this point, I used kitchen shears to cut the dough sheets in half since they were getting to hard to handle (remember, I am not very coordinated). I increased the roller setting to 4 and ran the dough through one last time (setting 4 or 5 is recommend for lasagna noodles). I placed the thin sheets on my drying rack and moved on to getting everything ready to be layered in my lasagna pans.
In first went a thin layer of sauce to keep the noodles from sticking to the pan, then half of the noodles, all of the cottage cheese and egg mixture, half of the remaining sauce, my secret ingredient, thin sliced pepperoni, then the rest of the noodles and the remainder of the meat sauce. I topped it with sliced Swiss cheese and sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan. Into the oven one went for dinner and the other one I wrapped tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil and put it in the freezer.
The lasagna needs to bake for about 30 minutes. Just a note, if you are not ready to bake the lasagna, pop it in the fridge, and about 1 hour before you are ready for dinner, take it out and let it sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature then bake for 30 minutes.
Here is a quick hint for slicing mushrooms: Use a egg slicer, it works perfectly and is much faster than slicing by hand!
- 1 pound fresh or dry lasagna noodles, cooked if using dry
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minsed
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 teaspoons italian seasonings
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 large cans tomato paste
- 3 cups hot water
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 2 pints cottage or ricotta cheese
- thin sliced pepperoni
- 1 pound sliced swiss cheese
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- any addtional ingredients you choose to add to your sauce (sliced mushroom, chopped green peppers, etc.)
Sautee the garlic and onions in hot oil, adding any additional ingredients you may have on hand. When softened, add the beef and cook till brown and crumbly. Add tomato paste, hot water and seasonings. Simmer for at least 10 minutes to blend flavors. Using a fork, blend together eggs and cottage or ricotta cheese in a bowl. Set aside.
In two 9x12 baking dishes, place in order:
- a thin layer of sauce
- half of the noodles
- all of the cottage cheese egg mixture
- half of the remaining sauce
- thin sliced pepperoni
- the rest of the noodles
- the remainder of the meat sauce
Top with sliced Swiss cheese and sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes.