It just occurred to me that I never gave you the recipe, just told you a story. I made two yesterday. It only took a few moments more to complete two as I did them together as an assembly line, using aluminum pans so I could freeze ours and give the other, as promised, to my guitar teacher.
This is a 10-15 minute lasagne for an 8×8 pan, which will very generously serve a family of four, or more with a green salad and crusty bread, even garlic bread. Yum.
For one lasagne:
8 sheets NO-BOIL lasagne noodles (Barilla makes one)
16 oz. Ricotta
8 oz Mozzarella, shredded
1 egg, beaten
handful parmesan or romano, freshly grated, more for the top
salt and pepper to taste
fresh or dried basil, marjoram and/or oregano to taste
1 25.5 oz. jar of your favorite pasta sauce (yesterday I used Muir Glen organic with tomato and basil)
I made a vegetarian version. I like to alternate the direction of the noodles just because I think it makes it stick together better (it’s just my way). Place enough sauce on the bottom of the pan to coat it lightly.
Add two sheets of pasta. Cover with 1/3 of cheese mixture and then tomato sauce to coat. Repeat twice. On the top layer place the pasta down, cover with remaining sauce and top with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees (place on a cookie sheet in case it boils over) for 45 minutes, uncovered, to an hour until it’s bubbly and gooey and gorgeous. Remove from the oven and let stand five minutes. Cut and serve.
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Single people who are terrified to cook for a date should learn this recipe (try it once before the date). I recently ran into a new dad, with baby, at the store in the pasta section and asked him what he was trying to make. I pointed out the no-boil noodles and he was very thankful, perhaps somewhat as thankful as his wife was for having 1/2 hour to herself and getting hubby to make dinner!
Enjoy! Dee
Cooking with Dee 