Lasagna

I use the recipe on the box of San Gorgio lasagna noodles. Its great everytime and everyone loves it! Good luck

I married into an Italian family and the lasagna recipe is actually a simple trick no one thought to tell me until I made a lasagna WITH my mother in law and saw her do it. Use very little sauce between the layers. It will set up with just a tiny amount and then pour a ton of sauce over the top of the whole thing when finished. That way there is plenty of sauce but it will set up nicely. This keeps the top noodles moist, no crunchy corners. You'll need to let it set after cooking 15 min. Also my in-laws always put a small bowl of heated sauce on the table to add to your lasagna if you want it. Nice part is, this will work with any recipe you choose.

hi

Lasagna is always better day 2. Usually I will cook it half way after I assemble it, cover and refrigerate and then cook it the rest of the way right before it is served the next day. For the filling use one ricotta, 1 egg, fresh basil, pepper, shredded parmesan, fresh italian parsley...the egg is what holds it together. For layering, sauce first, pasta, filling...top it off with sliced fresh mozzerella...cover and cook

I have also found if you use part skim, 2% cheese it is a lot looser and does not set as well....so when you cook lasagna use whole products and think of it as a treat!

I have made lasagne for meals for friends who just had babies and for others. People always ask for my recipe. It is the recipe on the box for Barilla Lasagne noodles (the kind you boil 1st)

I use Bob Evans Bulk sausage for the meat and Prego sauce. I also add extra cheese in with the ricota than what they call for.

I agree it is better the next day. Usually when I make lasagne, I make two, eat one and freeze one for later.

gotta use the ricotta that's not whole milk, plus you gotta make sure to add egg yolks and lots of parmesan cheese

I'm Italian and I learned to make lasagna from my grandmother. I don't really have a recipe. I always vary, and I make lots of different kinds of lasagna -- meat, veggie, lots of sauce, hardly any sauce... whatever I feel like, because lasagna is pretty easy and very forgiving.

If your cheese is runny, you might try my basic cheese recipe. I simply mix one large container of whole milk ricotta, about 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella, and a beaten egg. Depending on whatever cheeses I have around, I toss those in, as well... romano for a stronger flavor, parmesan for a little lighter, sometimes provolone, which can be strong and very stringy, so I go light on the provolone.

I make my own sauce, but use what you like. I have used both the regular noodles and the no-boil ones. Both work, but I can tell the difference in the texture. It's not that big of a difference tho. Sometimes I mix in some chopped veggies in the cheese mixture. Sometimes I add ground beef, sausage or a combination of both to the sauce. Layered baked eggplant is lovely, too. Thawed, well drained chopped spinach added to the cheese is also a big hit with my family. Be sure not to layer to the very top of the baking pan. The lasagna will expand as it cooks, and you'll have a very messy oven if you fill your baking pan right to the top. Oh, yes! I always add a very little bit of freshly grated nutmeg to my cheese mixture. It's an Italian tradition in our family. It really raises up the flavor just a bit, and is very good.

The main thing to get a great, stable lasagna, is to add an egg to your ricotta, and mix in some other firmer cheeses, too.

Hi S.,
I love and get lots of compliments on mine..it is the no-bake Barilla box recpie! My only sub's are I use italian sausage and I sprinkle basil on before the last layer of cheese. Soooo easy and great!
PS- use the Barilla maranara sauce, don't sub it out. It makes a difference. Good luck!
diane

Hi S.,
I don't have a recipe but I really like to cook and I've found that Allrecipes.com has great recipes and they have reviews. I'm sure you could find a great recipe there! Good Luck!!
heri

Hi. I know I'm responding a little late, but I saw your request and thought I'd share my favorite lasagna recipe with you. I just sent it to my friend and already had it typed up. It's from the book Barefoot Contessa's Family Favorites by Ina Garten.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (one onion)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
28 ounces of canned crushed tomatoes in tomato puree
6 ounces of tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound lasagna noodles
15 ounces ricotta cheese
3 to 4 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 pounds mozzarella, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the sausage and cook over medium-low heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of parsley, the basil 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat, for 15 to 20 minutes, until thickened.

Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with the hottest tap water. Add the noodles and allow them to sit in the water for 20 minutes. Drain.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, goat cheese, 1 cup of Parmesan, the egg, the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.

Ladle 1/3 of the sauce into a 9 X 12 X 2-inch rectangular baking dish, spreading the sauce over the bottom of the dish. Then add the layers as follows: half the pasta, half the mozzarella, ricotta, and finally, sauce. Then add the rest of the pasta, mozzarella, ricotta and sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.

(You can make this ahead and refrigerate the unbaked lasagna).

Hi S.,

This is how I make mine.

I brown hamburger or sausage or both depending on who is eating it. I put that in my sauce.

I get a container of Ricotta Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Parsley Flakes, Garlic Salt and egg and mix it all together in a bowl.

Then I layer. Lay noodles down, some of the cheese mixture, then the sauce. And just keep layering until the pan is full or I run out, whichever comes first.

Hope this helps.

Recipes vary depending on your taste, but the REAL thing to make sure so that your lasagna doesn't slide apart is to allow it to rest on the stove/counter top for at least 15 minutes before cutting. This give the cheese (hot and liquidy from baking) time to cool and set up a bit.

As for my family's recipe, we go the ground meat route, but on each layer I cover it with sliced pepperoni. The middle layers gets all that good pepperoni essence into the lasagna and the ones on the top brown off like on a pizza...yummy.

In the other recipes I have seen various baking times. I have never failed with the Betty Crocker one...350 degrees for 45 minutes and then allow it to set and cool no less than 15 minutes...just enough time to make a nice salad.

one thing my family does with their lasagna is instead of just using browned meat, we make meatballs, then slice them and layer them on top of the ricotta. it keeps things together a little more neatly.

always mix your cheese with an egg, this will keep it bonded and less likely to run.

whatever sauce you use, homemade or store bought, be sure to use a good amount. lasagna is no good if it's dry, so the amount of sauce you use is important.

good luck! now you have me hungry for this.... :)

Try going to RachaelRay.com. She has a lot of good recipes and I think she recently made a lasagna on her show. You can search the recipes by category.

Boil your lasagna noodles and set aside.

Create the sauce of your choice and set aside.

In a bowl, combine 2 pts Ricotta Cheese, Mozzerella cheese, 2 eggs, a little milk and some spices.

In a pan, layer noodles, cheese, sauce (you can add cooked sausage as well) until the pan is full.

Bake at 375 degrees for one hour. Take out of oven and let it sit for 30-45 minutes on a COOL surface (that is the key to it setting up).

Enjoy!

S.

Dear S., I made this for the Mardi Gras party at our Gallery and it was a great success. I was short on time so I used Healthy Harvest whole wheat lasagna, you do not need to boil it as long as you add a bit of water or you make your sauce a bit runny.
Lasagna is a relatively simple dish to make, the choice of ingredients make all the difference. I use extra vergin olive oil and the best Grana or Parmigiano i can find. (It is worth the extra effort to grate your own if your only alternatives are the supermarket grated ones). This is not a healthy minded dish, but it is so filling that you will balance the calories and fat by eating a smaller portion.
I make a basic tomato sauce by sauteeing onion and garlic in olive oil, then add petite cut tomatoes and some ccrushed tomatoes to make it a bit stronger. Add basil and simmer only until desired consistency is reached (usually about 20 min). At this point you can customize the sauce by adding meat or veggies. For the party I made two for meat eaters and vegetarians. I divided the sauce in two pots, to one I added browned ground beef, to the other sauteed spinach. To the meat sauce I added thyme and bay leaves, to the spinach a bit extra garlic.
I spread about a cup of sauce at the bottom of a casserole dish, top it with noodles (barely overlapping) then I put more tomato sauce, besciamella, parmigiano or grana cheese. Keep layering until desired thickness (I usually do 4 layers of noodles) and end with a generous layer of cheese. Cover with alluminum foil and bake at 350 F for about 1 hour or until cooked. Uncover, turn heath to 400 F and bake until a little crust forms on top.
To make your own besciamella melt one stick of butter in a heavy saucepan on low heat, add 3 tablespoons of flour and blend well. Add gradually about one liter of milk and heat on med, stirring, until thickened. Keep in mind it will thicken as it cools. I add 1 tbsp of grated lemon peel to mine.
Good luck, and let me know how it comes out if you try it!
C.

S., Everyone loves my lasagna!!! I'm sure you can make it and your family will love it.
1-box lasagna noodles
1- 16 oz. ricotta cheese
1- lb. motzerella cheese (grated)
1- lb. hamburg (browned and crumbled)
1-1/2 lb.italian or sweet sausage (I suggest hot italian)
--Take sausage out of casing and fry or bake until fully cooked. Crumble it up small.
12-16 oz. (home made sauce or store bought)
Pre heat oven 350
Put small amt. sauce on bottom of (9 by 13)glass baking dish
Add layer of noodles
sprinkle some hamburg and sausage crumbles (drain excess grease first)
Add some motzerella and dollups of ricotta
Add more sauce to new layer and continue to layer ingredients until dish is full.
Cook for 1 hr.(with tinfoil cover)
Remove tin foil for the last few minutes.
set oven on broil-high for approx. 1 or 2 mins. until cheese on top gets slightly golden and bubbly.
Hope you and family love and enjoy. If you have any concerns or comments, let me know. P.S If you make it early in the morning on day of serving,(or even the night before), it will be stable and cut well. Just warm it up and serve

Do not PRE COOK your noodles. That will help FIRM up the lasagna somewhat. As well, using too much sauce causes that.

i follow the recipe on the back of the SanGorgio oven ready lasagna. It is so easy and so yummy. Comes out perfect every time.

if you give it a good amount of time to set it will come out a little better. Mine always looks better out of the fridge the next day.

I always use the recipe off the back of the barilla no boil noodles.

Here is a delicious vegan tofu lasagna. If you aren't used to eating tofu, you may have to acquire a taste for it. It took me a short time to. Once you are used to eating soy, it tastes delicious. now I want it a lot.

You will need:

lasagna noodles
2 packages of tofu (the firmer the better) non gmo, organic
tomato sauce- I always mix 1 jar of Newmans Own marinara with
1 can of Contadina puree, or use homemade)
lemon juice
seasonings- (I use garlic oregano, and black pepper)

Preheat oven to 375

Boil the noodles

crumble tofu in a bowl, add a squirt of lemon juice(aprox. half a tsp. to tsp.) and some garlic powder, oregano, and black pepper. mix it all up

Heat sauce in pan, add some garlic and oregano to taste.

Layer it all in a lasagna pan. I put some sauce, noodles, tofu, noodles, sauce, tofu, noodles, sauce.

Bake for 20-30 min.

Enjoy!! Happy cooking!!

i like to prepare mine the day before and have it set in the fridge overnight and ready to go the next day - definately helps.

Try making your own Lasagna noodles. It's fairly simple. Basically for making your own noodles you use 1egg for 1 cup of flour and you may need to add a little cold water. Knead the ingredients together and form little balls. You then can either roll it out until this(this is hardest Part) or use a noodle press. Then drop in boiling water until it rises in the water and you can see the texture change and it will look like a regular wet noodle. Then layer as usual. I have found when it comes to setting it's almost better to wait until the next day when the lasagna is totally cool. You'll never want to go back to doing it with box noodles once you've had the real thing!

I use the no-cook lasagna noodles. Use 1&1/2 lb ground beef or ground sausage, browned, & add that to a large jar (or 2 reg size jars) of pasta sauce (any kind). I mix part-skim ricotta with small curd cottage cheese in a bowl, and add seasonings like oregano, basil, garlic, etc. I also throw in a handful of shredded mozzarella, and sometimes some chopped frozen spinach (squeezed dry of course).

Use a deep baking dish so you can do many layers. Start by putting a few spoonfuls of sauce in the bottom of the pan so nothing sticks. Then put a layer of noodles, spread enough sauce on top of the noodles so they are 'wet', then spread the ricotta/cottage mixture on top of that (be generous), then a good sprinkling of mozz cheese. More noodles, more sauce, more ricotta/cottage, more cheese. Keep layering until you run out of ingredients or room in the pan. top layer should be noodles with sauce and mozzarella (no ricotta/cottage on top). COVER and bake at 400 for about 30 min. Uncover and keep baking until cheese is well melted and bubbly.

Yummmm!