Collective Yum

(The above image is–unfortunately–not a photo of the actual lasagna we ate last night. I forgot to take pictures before it was plated, and once it was on the plate it was an ooey gooey mess and the lighting was rotten, so it wouldn’t have been an appetizing shot anyway. Suffice it to say, this lasagna tastes better than it looks.)

B’s favorite lasagna. This is best when everything is made from scratch: ricotta, pasta and pesto (you’re going to kinda-sorta make the sauce from scratch anyhow). However, the whole process can get pretty time consuming, especially if you’re not an experienced pasta-maker, so I’ve just written out the basic recipe with links to the cheese, pasta and pesto recipes that I use to put this together.

While I think homemade ricotta has a huge impact on the success of this dish, it really won’t kill you to use jarred pesto and store-bought pasta (like I did last night). If you’re going to throw extra effort into it, throw it into the cheese. If you decide to purchase ricotta, stay clear of “reduced fat” varieties. Unless you buy house-made stuff, you will also need to thin the ricotta with a little bit of milk until it’s the consistency of thick yogurt.

If you use store-bought pasta, be sure that it’s either the “fresh” stuff you can buy at a chi-chi market, or use the “no boil” variety (such as Barilla). The pasta sheets that you boil before cooking are too thick and gummy and overwhelm the lighter flavors and textures in this recipe.

Alright, here ya go.

Ingredients

• 1 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes (without added salt, sugar or herbs)
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. red pepper flake
• 1 small lemon’s worth of zest   

• 12 sheets of pasta, or enough to make four layers
• 2 c. ricotta
• 2 eggs
• 3 T. pesto
• 16 oz. fresh mozzarella, torn into bite-size pieces
• 4 links of Italian sausage, casings removed, browned and crumbled*

* totally optional; I actually like this best without meat, though I often make it with the sausage because it’s a crowd-pleaser

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and begin making the sauce. In a small saucepan, add the oil, salt, chili flakes and garlic. Saute until very fragrant, but do not allow the garlic to brown. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest.

In a medium-size bowl, whisk the ricotta, pesto and eggs together.

Into a 9X13" baking dish spoon enough sauce to entirely cover the bottom. Add a layer of pasta, followed by a layer of ricotta mixture, sausage (if using) and mozzarella. Cover with a layer of pasta, followed by sauce, ricotta, sausage and mozzarella. Repeat this step. Top with a final layer of pasta, the remainder of the sauce, the ricotta and the mozzarella.

Bake, covered with foil, for approximately thirty minutes, or until the cheese is well melted. Remove the foil and bake for another ten to fifteen minutes, or until the edges are beginning to brown. To get more color on this (fresh mozzarella doesn’t brown easily) I set the broiler to high for a minute or so before removing from the oven.

Slice, serve and enjoy.

Makes 8 servings or possibly less, depending on how much wine was consumed while you were waiting for d*** lasagna to finish baking already.

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Bisous, Catie