I fancy myself more Italian than I am.
I'm only a quarter Italian but my appetite for cooking and eating is predominantly Italian/Mediterranean. I count the days until I can visit Italy again, meander around beautiful Tuscan hillside towns, drink delicious wine, and sink into the laid-back Italian lifestyle.
Reality check.
I'm in San Francisco, job hunting, and not scootering around Roma.
In the meantime, I make lasagna, pasta, pizza, and torte like it's going out of style.
This is my own lasagna recipe, it does not have ricotta cheese like your traditional lasagnas do - I find the ricotta too heavy in texture and too weak in flavor for a hearty main course dish. So, here it is, MY take on an Italian staple.
Lasagne de Giovanna
Ingredients
1 box no-boil lasagna noodles
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3-4 heads garlic, diced
4-5 spicy Italian sausages, or your choice of meat (could be sausages or ground meat)
1 can, 28 oz., canned plum tomatoes
1 can, 28 oz., canned tomato sauce
1 can, 12 oz., diced/cubed tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
Oregano, Nutmeg, Italian spices, your choice of seasoning
Spoonful of sugar
Salt & pepper
3-4 cups spinach
5 cups + grated cheese, I use Asiago, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and whatever is in the frig
Directions
Best to start your sauce as early as possible so that it can simmer, bringing out all the flavors.
In the large sauce pan saute the onion. Add in the garlic once the onion softens. After two minutes add in the meat. Break up the meat with your spoon as you stir. Let cook until just browned. Turn down the heat to low.
Add to the pan the plum tomatoes, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes. Stir together. Let simmer. After a little while, 10 minutes or so, add in the tomato paste, sugar, and season to taste. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, on the stove for 30-40 minutes or a couple hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Assembling the lasagna, have all your ingredients out, cheese grated and spinach washed & dried. In an oblong 13 x 9 inch dish, ladle in enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. Add a layer of noodles, then sauce, then cheese, and then spinach. Repeat. When you get to the top of the pan add one final layer of noodles and sauce and then add a lot of cheese.
I'm only a quarter Italian but my appetite for cooking and eating is predominantly Italian/Mediterranean. I count the days until I can visit Italy again, meander around beautiful Tuscan hillside towns, drink delicious wine, and sink into the laid-back Italian lifestyle.
Reality check.
I'm in San Francisco, job hunting, and not scootering around Roma.
In the meantime, I make lasagna, pasta, pizza, and torte like it's going out of style.
This is my own lasagna recipe, it does not have ricotta cheese like your traditional lasagnas do - I find the ricotta too heavy in texture and too weak in flavor for a hearty main course dish. So, here it is, MY take on an Italian staple.
Lasagne de Giovanna
feel free to substitute in your pasta sauce, this is my staple recipe
1 box no-boil lasagna noodles
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3-4 heads garlic, diced
4-5 spicy Italian sausages, or your choice of meat (could be sausages or ground meat)
1 can, 28 oz., canned plum tomatoes
1 can, 28 oz., canned tomato sauce
1 can, 12 oz., diced/cubed tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
Oregano, Nutmeg, Italian spices, your choice of seasoning
Spoonful of sugar
Salt & pepper
3-4 cups spinach
5 cups + grated cheese, I use Asiago, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and whatever is in the frig
Directions
Best to start your sauce as early as possible so that it can simmer, bringing out all the flavors.
In the large sauce pan saute the onion. Add in the garlic once the onion softens. After two minutes add in the meat. Break up the meat with your spoon as you stir. Let cook until just browned. Turn down the heat to low.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Assembling the lasagna, have all your ingredients out, cheese grated and spinach washed & dried. In an oblong 13 x 9 inch dish, ladle in enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. Add a layer of noodles, then sauce, then cheese, and then spinach. Repeat. When you get to the top of the pan add one final layer of noodles and sauce and then add a lot of cheese.
Bake in the center of the oven for 30-40 minutes until the top is browning and cheese bubbling. Like so.
Serve hot and with a nice glass of vino!
It's good til the last drop or as a late night snack, which is what I tend to do.
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