Millions of variations and it something that I’ve never made! I’m Thinking about doing one vegetarian and one meat this coming weekend. Does anybody have a go to recipe source or tips they can share. Thanks!
We leave out the prosciutto (vegetarian style) and use tinkyada gf noodles, not to make it gf but because they have a wonderful silky texture like a rice noodle.
Carrie makes a Lasagna using polenta instead of noodles.
The day before she makes it, she cooks corn meal into polenta, adding roasted garlic and Italian herbs. It’s then placed into a 13 by 9 inch pan to set over night.
The next day she flips the polenta out of the pan and slices it about the width of a regular lasagna noodle. In another 13 by 9 pan she puts a layer of the sauce, (meat, veg, what ever you like). On top she puts a layer of the polenta, followed by a layer roasted garlic gloves, another layer of sauce, then a layer of regular Mozzarella with some smoked Mozzarella mixed in. Repeat starting with polenta until pan full or you run out of stuff to cram into it and top with sauce. The sauce layer should be a little thick because the polenta will steal some liquid. Occasionally, Carrie adds a layer of vegetables like zucchini but your favorite veggies will work.
I know this is slightly blasphemous and a little off topic, but unless it is a variant on basic lasagna (ex: seafood or veg only), we just tend to buy them pre-made.
I can buy really good basic lasagna’s way cheaper than we could make it and save all that time.
This may be the ONLY item of food (other than bread/ pastry and some types of cake) that I would say that about. Charcuterie as well, but I wouldn’t go down that rabbit hole to begin with.
Dennis, your instagram of the Kenji lasagna looked really good.
Thanks, Chris.
Alex- You are correct about the bolognese ahead of time. I usually do that when I have planned far enough in advance. It also makes the day-of prep a bit easier as there are multiple things to juggle with this recipe.
Thanks for the thoughts here. When I showed my wife the Kenji recipe she reminded me that she made it a couple of years ago . I’m going to give it go this weekend anyways!
Will have to try this, perhaps without ricotta as I’m not particularly a fan.
For me the key is nutmeggy bechamel sauce as a foil to the ragu.
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One of the best frozen lasagnas was (is) Marks and Sparks which had a good glug of red wine in the ragu (another heresy!) - which is something I now usually do in Lasagna or Spag Bol - I can do this as I’m not Italian. Sadly M&S left Canada years ago.
We actually have Kenji’s book And interestingly he doesn’t use ricotta in that version of the recipe. Instead He adds mozzarella to the béchamel. I think I might do both, because why not.
I make it differently every time. You can wing it!
My only rules:
Beware insufficient moisture/sauce.
Top layer is cheese.
This rule may sound odd: each “ingredient,” the sauce, meat, vegetables, etc. that I prepare for the lasagna must taste good to me on their own. I always get a good final melange of flavor that way.
Last rule: must drink wine that you envision pairing the dish with while preparing the dish.
I cooked this bad boy over the weekend. It really was all that. Thanks again for the push! And yes, I made the bolognese the day before.
I think my biggest takeaway was the methods for the two respective cheese mixtures which aren’t that difficult and could be put into play without making a 4+ hour sauce.
I need to try making the sauce the day before. Though, I got an Instant Pot from the kids for xmas and recently made Kenji’s all-day bolognese in 40 minutes and it was pretty damn good…
never seen a recipe before that used both béchamel and ricotta till that Kenji one. Always read that ricotta was a béchamel substitution. Made one last night for today. Expensive with the cheeses and meats coupled with quality tomatoes. Did a ground beef/ground pork béchamel/mozzarella/Parmesan taking a few on line versions and amalgamating. We will see . . .