So yesterday was Lasagna Eve and we went out and stocked up on the supplies:
Sauce (sauce, paste, puree). I’ve considered starting from fresh tomato but I’ve been told it’s not necessarily going to make it better and would be incredibly time consuming. Lasagna noodles small green bell pepper small red bell pepper baby bella mushrooms
some kind of onions I’ve never seen before, they look like giant versions of green onions, white on the ends with long green stalks. Got them at a farm near here. black olives (canned) peeled garlic
fresh basil
fresh parsley
fresh tyme
fresh rosemary
fresh savory (never heard of it before but gave it a smell at the farm and immediately bought it) cooking sherry (i know wine snobs will turn their nose at me. i don’t care.)
a couple bags of a provolone and mozzerella blend
a small bag of 5 cheese blend parmeasan and romano shaker
some** dried grated cheese** that i like to put on top because its long grated and gets crunchy when you bake it ricotta cheese (i am not using too much of this, but it will be mixed in with the other cheeses to add stability)
1lb 80/20 ground beef
1lb sweet italian sausage made by a local company
i think thats it i couldn’t find a couple spices like oregano but i have some dried. You use less of the fresh herbs than you do dried ones, right? Or was that more?
I will make the sauce this morning and let it cool down, then make the noodles and put it together late afternoon then bake it after my wife gets home from work.
Except for the fact that only TROTSKY-LOVING GODLESS RED COMMUNISTS* ( ) put mushrooms and olives in their lasagne**, this does sound glorious.
You could make it much fresher tasting if you get canned crushed tomatoes. They’re packaged at a much lower heat and are basically tomatoes with nothing else.
I also like to add a single egg to the ricotta just to give it a firmer texture.
And it’s possible your onions were crimini onions…is the bulb really squashed: not spherical? If so, it probably is.
I kid, I kid because you make me hungry.
**actually, in everything…but specifically in lasagne
See, what I don’t understand is, if you’re taking the time to boil water, cook the noodles, drain the water and let the noodles cool, why not just instead use that time to mix eggs and flour, knead for a few seconds, roll it out, and cut fresh noodles from that?
It’s really no more effort and unbelieveably better. Really, try it.
I think it’s weird to put red or green bell peppers or olives in lasagna, or rosemary or leeks, if that’s what they are, for that matter, but then I’m a traditionalist so don’t listen to me. I would put a little honey or at least sugar in the sauce, though, as all those tomato products could make it a little acidic. Otherwise, lasagna on. As for the noodles, I usually just use the no-boil ones to make things a little easier.
I do put a little sugar in my spaghetti and lasagna sauce. This used to upset my wife, who likes the traditional italian recipes more and likes to use cornstarch. But she mostly got used to it and seems to love the sauce in all other respects.
I will try the crushed tomatoes next time. The olives were my wifes idea and they’re not in the sauce, just in the layers. Possibly just on top in case someone doesn’t like them.
I think that’s what they were, crimini onions. They had a sign up but I couldn’t remember what it said.
And how do you get those lovely crinkly edges? eh?
Seriously, post a recipe for lasagna noodles and i’ll try it sometime.
The sauce is done and the house smells like an Italian restaurant I have to pick the wife up from work, then will cook the noodles and finish things up. It smells heavenly already. Oh, and I’m making garlic cheese bread using a loaf of fresh italian I picked up at a bakery yesterday And a salad.
I’ve never made fresh lasagna noodles (I’ve made fresh pasta though), but I’ve always thought it would be cool to cut the noodles to the shape of the pan, one giant noodle per layer. Am I right, or would that be a disaster in some way I can’t currently foresee?
Crimini Onions. Which were good but I don’t think I’d use them in a pasta sauce again. I just sliced them into circles but they broke up when cooking so I had tiny thin little rings of onion without much texture or substance to them. I think a chopped yellow onion would have given the flavor AND the texture.
So it won’t fully come together until tomorrow, but i am fairly happy with it so far. Nearly ran out of cheese, the lasagna was ok but there wasn’t enough cheese to put more than a tiny sprinkle on the garlic bread. I am trying to decide if I like the Savory herbs or not, it’s the first I’ve used them. They have a very “earthy” flavor, sort of mushroomy but stronger, and I’m glad I didn’t use too much of them. The sauce is on the sweet side, with the sherry, basil, and sugar, and I didn’t put anything spicy in for balance since my wife asked me not too. I am happy with the fresh herbs, they seem to have a “cleaner” flavor than dried ones and they really came together.
There is a big huge container of it that will provide many meals this week and next. And we’ll probably freeze about half of it in sandwich bags so we can take a bag out for lunch the next day or whatever. Much better than store bought frozen lasagna!
In our house, savory goes into split pea soup, stuffing, maybe a chicken stew. It is an assertive flavour. I kind of use it as a substitute or addition to sage.
My lasagne recipe is… very different from yours. Very.
Ok I thought it was an italian sounding name that began with a C, but, the pictures on google images do not match what I had. The Cipollini Onions are much bigger on the end and are shaped almost like a garlic bulb, and the ones on google don’t have a green stalk thats 3 times longer than the onion.
These looked exactly like the green onions most grocery stores carry except they were 2 feet long and as big around as a 50 cent piece. About 6-8 inches of the tips were white and oniony, then they transitioned to a green leafy stalk. The white part was more of a tube shape like the green bit, and the same size. It wasn’t bulb shaped or rounded at all. There were hairlike bits (roots?) hanging from the white end. ETA They look like leeks.
I didn’t buy the savory for the purpose of adding it to the lasagna, I bought it because it smelled interesting and I wanted to see what it was like. The herbs and spices that I put in my pasta sauces vary a lot from one batch to the next. Garlic, Parsley, and Oregano are staples, the rest is whatever I have on hand and seems like it would taste good.
I know it’s beyond L-Night, but why would you boil the noodles at all?
I generally make my lasagnas up ahead of time (5-10 of them. If I’m making a mess of the kitchen, I’m making a big mess. It takes the same amount of time to clean up, then they go in the freezer for an easy take-along meal, or something to take out in the morning to have that night).
Add some extra stock to the sauce so that it’s “thinner” than normal. Assemble lasagnas and fill the pan with sauce when done. The moisture will be absorbed while the lasagna bakes. IMO, it come out better than a pre-boiled noodle.
Also, as I don’t like big clumps of ricotta, the trick I learned from an old Italian grandma was to mix a little bit of sauce into the ricotta before layering. Just enough to turn it pink.
I’ve done them both ways with both fresh and regular dry (not no-boil) noodles, and the difference to me is that if you cook it all together, you don’t have as much separation between the layers and the sauce kind of cooks into the noodles. You may prefer that, you may not even notice it, but I notice it, so I’ve started parboiling my noodles and prefer the result. I hate to do it, because it lengthens an already lengthy process, but it’s enough difference to me personally that I prefer doing so. YMMV. It still tastes good either way.
I was hoping this was a zombie thread from the poster who wrote his lasagna recipient calling the reader an idiot. I used it several time over the years but forgot enough of the details since the last time I made it to find it again. By far the best I’ve ever had.
i couldn’t find a couple spices like oregano but i have some dried. You use less of the fresh herbs than you do dried ones, right? Or was that more? 
) put mushrooms and olives in their lasagne**, this does sound glorious.
I have to pick the wife up from work, then will cook the noodles and finish things up. It smells heavenly already. Oh, and I’m making garlic cheese bread using a loaf of fresh italian I picked up at a bakery yesterday 
And a salad.