The Houndstooth Gourmet

I’ve been making lasagna for many years and have come to put my own “signature” on my version. It’s not particularly traditional-but as Rachel Ray would say, “there’s things in there that will make your guests go hmmmmm”. And Yum-O! And hopefully, “can I have the recipe?”

The twists that I put on my lasanga are: using bell peppers to compliment the ground meat, adding nutmeg as a background taste to the meat and cheese, adding lemon zest to offset and balance the creaminess of the cheese, and adding the tang of cream cheese because I saw Paula Deen do this once, and dang! it’s good!

As always, making a lasagna will feed a crowd and while it’s time consuming to put together, the work is all up front. Once assembled, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to a day before making it-leaving plenty of time to clean the kitchen!

This lasagna is a please your family- feed a crowd-hook your boyfriend good. Just ask my husband, Frank

Most of all, lasagna just says love.

 Lasagna a la Mona

Ingredients

• Lasagan noodles, cooked according to package direction and enough to make 3 layers of pasta
• 2.5 lbs. meatloaf mix, or ground beef
• 1 Tablespoon Italian herbs
• 2 lb. container of ricotta
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella, plus 1/4 cup for topping
• 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese, pluse 1/4 cup for topping and more for passing at the table. About 2 cups total
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 ounce cream cheese or neufastchel cheese
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• zest of half a lemon
• 1 24 oz. jar marinara

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and bell peppers. Saute for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and continue cooking for an additional 3 minutes. Remove to a large bowl. Increase heat to high and add ground meat. Season meat with salt, pepper, nutmeg and Italian herbs.Using a spatula, chop meat and cook thoroughly. At this point, you may want to drain meat in a collander to remove excess fat and liquid. Combine meat with the cooked vegetables.

In another large bowl, combine ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, cream cheese, lemon zest and egg.

To assemble:

In a large lasagna pan, place about 1/4 cup of marinara sauce and spread evenly to cover bottom of pan. Place one layer of lasanga noodles. Spread more marinara over noodles to cover evenly. Top evenly with one half of the cheese, then one half of the meat and vegetable mixture.

Place another layer of lasagna noodles on top and press down to even the bottom layer and spread the filling evenly. Repeat with marinara, cheese and meat mixture.

Place the top layer of lasanga noodles over the second layer of filling and press down to evenly distribute filling evenly. Pour marinara over top layer to cover evenly. Reserve the rest of the marinara to serve warm at the table.

Cover lasagna with foil and place on middle rack of oven. Cook for one hour. Remove foil and sprinkle reserved mozzarella and parmesan evenly over top.

Turn on broiler. Place lasanga under broiler to melt cheese and lightly brown the top.

Allow the lasagna to rest for 15 minutes before cutting. This is very important-it will allow the lasagna to “set up” and keep your slices together when plated.

Serve with more parmesan and the remaining warmed marinara at the table.

Mangia!

Lasagna a la Mona is being submitted to Presto Pasta Night-a fun weekly blog event sponsored by Ruth at Once Upon A Feast.

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Tags: cheese, pasta, presto pasta night // 8 Comments »