This is absolutely true; lasagna is the Italian equivilent of a casserole. But there are definitely wrong ways to make a lasagna, includingg the use of cottage cheese, hamburger, dry noodles, et cetera. I have a great recipe (based on that from Angeli Caffe) but it’ll have to wait until I return to home base.
The basics: make a roux and use it to make a bechamel sauce into which you mix the ricotta or (preferably) marscapone cheese. If you have to use mozzarella cheese, use it sparingly and preferablly fresh (the balls in liquid) rather than aged. Make your own pasta (cheap and easy) or buy fresh pasta sheets rather than dried pasta. (Dried pasta is fine for spaghetti but terrible for thick noodles.) Make the sauce fresh–again, so easy it’s almost trivial, and both better tasting and more healthy than anything in a can–and if you want a meat lasagna, try making a proper ragù (not Ragú[sup]TM[/sup], which isn’t a bloody ragù at all!) to get the flavor and consistancy. I prefer vegetable lasagnas myself, but don’t just dump a pound of ground beef in the middle and call it good. AND NO SERVING THE LASAGNA WITH GARLIC BREAD! It already has one starch in it; you don’t need another one.
And now I’m torn between wanting to make a lasagna and all the weight I need to lose from this holiday’s largess of calories. Damnit.
Have you looked at Earthworks on Rosewood? They might have some fresh pasta there. Other possibilites: The Gourmet Shop in 5-Points or La Cucina in the Vista.
Oops, been a few years since I lived there. The market on Rosewood is called Rosewood Market (imagine that). But there is also a ‘health food’ market on Devine ST (across from Dreher HS next to CVS pharmacy) that’s called something like ‘Earthworks’.
Well damn this thread. I was in Tesco’s supermarket earlier, and my wife came up the aisle clutching a “Tesco’s Finest Traditional Lasagne” ready meal. “Hand placed ruffled pasta. Minced beef. Pancetta. White wine. Parmigiano from Emilia-Romagna.”
I bought the fucker and we just ate it. So much for the post-Christmas dieting. It was pretty damned good, and quite like the one described in the OP.
Earthfare, across from Dreher. La Cucina’s been gone for ages. There’s also the Fresh Market. I don’t know about Earthfare or Rosewood Market, but the Fresh Market doesn’t have pasta sheets (although they do have a good cheese selection) and the Gourmet Shop has an even better cheese selection but is extremely inconvenient.