Lasagna is one of those foods that I love but hardly ever eat. I absolutely love ricotta cheese on just about anything, pizza, lasagna, cannolis, whatever. Not to mention when it is combined with pasta and red sauce. Yum! Unfortunately only half of my family has the same love of ricotta as I do, so it isn’t really worth me making lasagna very often. Sadly. Every now and again I treat my daughter and myself to one and today was that day! And it was absolutely delicious!
My mother didn’t make lasagna very often, but she did make what she called “lazy lasagna”. This was when you cook any type of pasta and mix it with the ricotta mixture and a little red sauce. It wasn’t baked so you really shouldn’t add the egg unless you are making a baked lasagna. It is also very yummy so I highly encourage you give it a try.
Here are the ingredients you need to make lasagna:
1 lb. lasagna noodles
1 15 oz. container of ricotta
2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
1/8 – 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 – 1/4 tsp. pepper
1 – 2 tsp. parsley
1 egg
Shredded mozarella
Red Sauce – here is the link to my red sauce recipe https://stephaniessliceoflife.com/2019/12/30/feeling-saucy/
Cook lasagna noodles as directed on package. If you have never cooked these, layer them in the pot of boiling water and give them a few seconds to soften and push them under the water. Once they are all soft then you can stir them.
While the pasta is cooking mix the ricotta, garlic powder, parmesan, pepper, parsley, and egg together in a mixing bowl. As I mentioned, if you aren’t going to bake the pasta then omit the egg.
Tonight I decided to add some spinach to the mixture. You can cook fresh spinach and chop it or use chopped frozen spinach. I used about 1 cup of spinach.
In a glass baking dish spread a little of your sauce. Then lay down the first layer of noodles. Depending on the size of your dish you may need to trim the noodles which I did. I remember being a child and dipping those little cut off strips into the ricotta mixture and eating it while my mother was putting together the lasagna.
Add a layer of ricotta over the noodles.
Another thin layer of sauce, and some shredded mozarella.
Keep repeating the layers until you get near the top of the dish. With your last layer of noodles, top with some sauce and mozarella.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue cooking for 5-10 minutes or until the mozzarella is melted.
Let cool for about 10 minutes before slicing. Mangia!
