Lasagna

[knapplc]

Made lasagna, garlic bread, salad and green beans for about a dozen people tonight.

 

Lasagna

 

1 lb ground hamburger, browned

1/2 cup onion, sauteed

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1 15oz container ricotta cheese

2 eggs

2 tbsp dried, crushed oregano

2 tbsp dried, crushed basil

4-5 cups marinara

4-5 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated parmesan (I use the Kraft stuff for the salt)

1 package Barilla no-bake lasagna noodles

 

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Brown the hamburger and remove from pan. In the same pan, without cleaning or scraping, sautee the onion until it becomes translucent. When it gets close to being done, add the garlic and stir until onion is done, scraping any remaining brown bits of ground beef off the bottom. Add to bowl of ground beef.

 

In a separate bowl, combine the oregano, basil, eggs, the parmesan and about 1/2 cup of the mozzarella.

 

From here, follow the instructions on the lasagna noodle package to layer the lasagna. I'd give you my "recipe," but the one I got from my mom, who got it from her mom, is entirely identical to the back of the Barilla no-bake lasagna noodle package. I kid you not.

 

Bake it at 375 F for about 25-30 minutes. The package says to do it for about 50-60 minutes, but it'll burn if you bake it that long. Remove from oven when the edges get brown and let cool for 10 minutes, then cut and serve.

 

 

 

Green Beans

 

1-2 lbs haricot verts green beans (skinny French green beans)

3 cloves garlic, sliced thin

Olive oil

 

I make this in conjunction with my lasagna, so your oven is already at about 375-350 F. Pre-heat a baking dish while you bake the lasagna, then when the lasagna is done (or when the dish is hot) throw in the green beans and sliced garlic, then douse with "some" olive oil (to taste).

 

Bake for about 10-12 minutes. If you can smell the green beans, they're done. Pull from oven and toss in 1-2 TBSP butter and cover with a lid or tin foil. Toss once butter is melted (1-2 minutes) and serve immediately.

 

 

Garlic Bread

 

1-2 baguettes (depends on how long they are and how many people you're serving)

Garlic Butter (recipe follows)

Grated Parmesan cheese (to taste)

 

Again, I make this in conjunction with my lasagna. Your oven is already at 375-350, so just keep it there. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and place your baguettes on the foil. Slather liberally with the garlic butter, then top with the Parmesan cheese (to taste). Bake for 8-10 minutes and remove before the bottom gets too crusty. Slice on a bias and serve.

 

 

 

Garlic Butter

 

20-30 cloves garlic, or two/three large heads

Olive oil

Margarine (from a tub)

 

Preheat your oven to 350. If you're using peeled garlic, wrap your cloves in tin foil and douse liberally with olive oil. If you're using whole heads of garlic, cut the top of the garlic off horizontally, and douse the whole thing, inside and out, with "too much" olive oil. Roast until you can smell it, about 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven. If using peeled garlic, pour everything into a blender or food processor, including any extra olive oil from the tin foil. If using whole cloves of garlic, allow it to cool for ten minutes (or until you can touch it without burning yourself) and then squeeze the garlic from the head into the blender/processor. Blend/process until smooth paste forms, adding olive oil as necessary.

 

Once you have a thick paste, add that to margarine (not butter) until you have a buttery/garlicky paste to taste. Yours might be different from mine, but whatever you like.

 

This can be frozen in quart freezer bags as needed. I typically roast 10-15 heads of garlic at a time and freeze this into thin bags of about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of roasted garlic/olive oil, and pull out as needed.

[Foppa]

Please tell me you modified the recipe...because if you're telling me that a pound of hamburger in any dish for 12 people works...especially in Nebraska...

 

Otherwise, sounds really nice man.

[knapplc]

Between the cheese, pasta, ricotta and sauce, there's a lot going on in that lasagna. A pound of hamburger is plenty, believe me.

[husker B-rent]

knapp one thing to try is to use cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese in your lasagna. it makes for a much better appearance as well as a much better taste.

 

layer ground beef then cottage cheese spoonfuls then marinara or preggo spaghetti sauce then cheese (mix of shredded italian and colby jack) and then pasta. do that 3 or four times and then on top leave off the layer of pasta and italian seasonings and you will have the best lasagna you have ever tasted. get told that every time i make it.