Now I have had success putting all kinds of fillings in a lasagna. The noodles are just a vehicle the same way bread is to a sandwich or crust to a pizza. I have grilled veggies and chicken with tomato sauce as a filling, cream sauce with chicken, meat sauce and cheese, meat and spinach, spinach and ricotta, even a pizza inspired one with pepperoni and mozzarella, endless possibilities really.
It's hard to narrow down a recipe for all the filings because they really depends on your taste.
I usually grate one 500g bar of cheese per 9x9 pan that I am making. If you are making a 9x13 I would use the whole bock.
This sauce has a basic 2:2:1 ratio. 2 tbsp fat, 2 tbsp flour, 1 cup of milk. I usually use butter for fat, but you can use any kind of oil, or animal fat, like bacon, yep bacon. For lagana I find this ratio a little thick, so I just add more milk till it looks right. For two 9x9 pans or one 9x13 you probably need about 3 or 4 cups of sauce.
Put the fat in the pan and let it heat up, or melt, on med-hi. Add in the flour and let it cook for a little. You do not have to cook it for long but the longer you cook it the darker and nuttier the flour will be. I like to cook it until it is caramel colored.
Then I add in the milk. Turn down the heat to med-low. You don't have to add all the milk at once, but you should add enough so that you don't make dumplings. You have to whisk as you pour the milk in or you will get lumps. Once you add all the milk season with salt and pepper. It's a matter of taste but I also add a bit of nutmeg, you can also add whatever you want, paprika, some red pepper flake, basil, oregano, whatever. I also usually add a handful or two of parm. As soon as it is thick enough take off the heat.
This sauce is also the basis for a killer cheese sauce, for awesome stovetop mac and cheese that doesn't make you want to die. Just add some grated cheddar to the finished sauce and mix with cooked macaroni. You're welcome.
Not much to see here folks. It is what it is, spinach and ricotta.
I usually use 2 tubs of ricotta and 3 packages of frozen spinach per 2-9x9 1-13x9 recipe.
Thaw the spinach and put it in a clean dish towel. Then squeeze the spinach liquid out. There will be a lot. It's not a good idea to skip this step because you will make your lasagna really soupy.
Add in the tubs of ricotta. Season with salt and pepper. I usually put a little nutmeg again. Taste now if you want to. Then add 2 eggs.
And thats it.
If you wanna be "fancy" you can add some herbs or make it a little spicy
Tomato Sauce
This sauce is also not fussy or complicated.
If you are using meat brown and drain it first. This can be ground beef, pork, turkey, chicken, even uncased sausage meat. Depending on what kind of meat you use you could end up with a lot of fat so make sure you drain most of it off.
You can use some of the fat from your meat, or add some oil to the pan and saute some onion, garlic, carrot, and celery with a little salt. If you are in a pinch you can omit any of these, but I would try to keep the onion and garlic in. You can cook them a little or a lot, remember brown means flavour.
Deglaze with a little red or white wine, some broth, or even the juice from the canned tomatoes with a little water. Deglaze means to pick up the bits from the bottom of the pan. And you want that because those bits are flavour.
Then add the meat back in, add some cans of tomatoes, and season. I usually use different "textures" of tomatoes on my sauce. I break up 2 cans of whole tomatoes with my hands. Then I add in a few can of crushed. I like to have a chunkier sauce. If you don't use all crushed, or diced. I season with basil, parsley, oregano, and a few bay leaves.
Let it cook for a few hours. And THATS IT.
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AssemblyNow this is what we are all here for right. How to put it all together. I mean really its self explanatory, noodles, sauce, filling, repeat. But there are a few secrets to making your lasagna come out perfect.
First the noodles. As per my previous post I prefer to use homemade noodles. Or you can buy those fresh noodles at the grocery store. They don't need to be cooked, and taste a whole lot better.
If you are using dried noodles, try and get the oven ready variety. Then you do not need to cook them. A little secret I dont even cook the non oven ready variety I just add more water to my sauce. If you do cook them do not cook them until they are done, you want them even more than al dente. Cook them cool them on a baking tray with a little oil so they don't stick.
Before you start assembling everything should be cooled. Not cold, but especially if you are freezing them, you want everything to be cool before you freeze anyways.
The first thing you put in the pan is a bit of sauce, this will help later when you are trying to get a good slice out of the pan. Also you are trying to encase the noodles in sauce so they can cook well.
So sauce on the bottom then noodles, enough to cover the whole pan, trying not to overlap. Cut the noodles if you need to. Then add a little more sauce over the noodles. Then if you are using another filing like spinach or bechamel or whatever add it in now. Then some cheese. And repeat. Sauce, noodles, sauce, filing, cheese. I can usually fit 2 repeats. Then the last layer I put sauce, noodles, sauce then cheese. A good amount, this will give you that cheesy crispy top to your lasagna.
And there you have it lasagna. No complicated, just delicious. Now go cook!
