Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Yesterday, I decided to try to find my inner Italian. In a book I just read called "The Recipe Club" (yes, I know it's not on the reading list, but I grabbed it at Walmart in a bookless roadtrip pinch), there was a recipe for "Lovelorn Lasagna" (you'll have to read the book to find out why it's called that!) that included a recipe for homemade sauce. And I've always wanted to make my own sauce. So I decided to give it a whirl! I started with tomato paste, a bay leaf, and a prayer...
And a few other things.
Start by adding oil and butter to a pan. Why you need oil AND butter, I do not know. I'm sure it has something to do with smoke points. I'm just following the recipe.
Next, add diced onion, garlic, and oregano to the hot oil.
Cook until translucent.
Add one pound of Italian sausage and ground beef each and brown.
Stir in a few tablespoons of tomato paste.
Add beef stock, canned whole (peeled...) tomatoes, some salt and pepper, and a bay leaf.
Simmer uncovered until thickened, somewhere around one hour. While this is happening, boil some water.
And slice your mozzarella cheese. You can use all shredded, but the whole stuff is SO much better. But it's too expensive to do the job solo, so I had to subsidize...
Add a pack of lasagna noodles to your now boiling water.
Remove the bay leaf from your now thickened, delicious, wonderful sauce.
Drain noodles, get out ricotta and Parmesan cheeses and make an assembly line.
Put a layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Lay down a layer of noodles. Top with a layer of ricotta cheese, followed by mozzarella and Parmesan. Repeat until you run out of ingredients or your pan floweth over.
Ohhhhhh, deliciousness.
Into the oven it goes.
Out of the oven it comes!
Eat, enjoy, live a happy life. Served best with wine and good friends. Otherwise you'll never be able to eat the whole pan.
Now I don't have to cook allllll week!!
But I will.
Because I like it.
The end.
Kari
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1 comments:
yum! That sauce sounds delishish, and I love lasagna. When my family makes it we mix italian seasoning, garlic salt (or fresh garlic and a little salt), and parmesan cheese with the ricotta, if you ever want to try another variation. We also skip boiling the noodles, and instead use extra sauce and a longer baking time to soften them. I might have to try that sauce recipe though...
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