How do you make your lasagna?

[fly girl]

My lasagna is one handed down from an Italian family (and shocker to all, we use Cottage Cheese)

This is the standard Dh birthday dinner. He always asks for lasagna and tart cherry pie. (His mom was a little sad that he preferred my lasagna over hers, until she had mine and agreed. lol)

Homemade Sauce: olive oil, 80/15 ground round, onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, water, oregano, salt, pepper, sugar. (you can do a 50/50 mix of ground round and Italian sausage)
Pound of Mozzarella, hand sliced or shredded in food processor (not pre-shredded)
Cottage cheese, small curd.
Parmesan cheese
Boiled lasagna noodles.

Layers:
bottom, sauce only
noodles
sauce, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese
noodles
sauce, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese
noodles
top: sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Ricotta, eggs, mozzarella, and Parmigiano with s and p for the inside. Key is to make it a bit salty, so a lot of Parmigiano. It will ballance the red sause. Salt and savory. Add whatever you want really after that. So meat, or veggies. Sometimes i mix in some provolone. If you like basil add the leaves after the sause is cooked.

Similar technique,not to heavy on parm but agree it is vital for taste and and good way to control salt level.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have a friend that makes her lasagna with egg noodles instead of lasagna noodles. It makes it seem lighter.
I have done it that way before, too, years ago. Going to try it again next time that way, too.

 

[klacey1]

OP here again—I went to three grocery stores today and they were all completely out of standard lasagna noodles. Only oven ready was to be had. I guess it’s a popular meal choice for New Year’s!

I didn’t feel like going to our favorite Italian restaurant that sells fresh pasta, so oven ready it is. A little nervous! I do wonder how this impacts the sauce thickness...going to reread everyone’s tips again!!

 

[NotUrsula]

I believe it and that makes sense. We were from Baltimore and so no shortage of ricotta to be found there. I just personally dislike everything about cottage cheese from taste to texture so I could not personally use it as a substitute. Maybe if I were raised on it I could do it.

Well, if I used it straight from the tub I would agree with you, LOL; I really don't eat it by itself at all. However, by the time I get through with it when making lasagna it has changed quite a bit. I put it in cheesecloth and press it to get it as dry as possible, and I use a ricer to smooth out the texture, too, and I mix in a lot of spices. Ricotta is fine, of course, but I go through the trouble to process the cottage cheese for 2 reasons: it costs a lot less, but more importantly, it has a LOT less fat.

 

[BrianL]

I don't but this thread had me craving lasagna. Conveniently my mom just said she is making a lasagna and I could come for dinner.

 

[Sjm9911]

I never in my life thought of lasagna with cottage cheese. I did look it up, but for me lasagna is about the fat and endolgiance. While , straining, draining , and spicing the cottage cheese sounds like it can work, it will not deliver the creamy pot cheese taste that makes lasagna a food worth craving. Maybe its a regional thing, im in NJ so sopranos territory. Tony and Garfield would not approve. But carry on, if you like it , thats all that matters. But i cant eat jared sauce either. And yes, gravy and sause are diffrent to me. Nothing beats a fresh pot cheese in the metal tub with some wax paper on the top held on by a rubber band........same goes for fresh mozzarella.

 

[NannyBeBe]

We make a mixture of ricotta and cottage cheese. We use oven ready lasagna noodles and only whole milk mozzarella. We make sure the sauce is very hot before we start layering; this makes the noodles soften better. We really can't tell the difference between the oven ready noodles and the regular ones. We also bake the lasagna low and slow.

 

[ronandannette]

OP here again—I went to three grocery stores today and they were all completely out of standard lasagna noodles. Only oven ready was to be had. I guess it’s a popular meal choice for New Year’s!

I didn’t feel like going to our favorite Italian restaurant that sells fresh pasta, so oven ready it is. A little nervous! I do wonder how this impacts the sauce thickness...going to reread everyone’s tips again!!

You will want to thin your sauce a little, as well as use a little extra in constructing your dish. I make sure to put sauce directly under and over every piece of noodle to make sure there's enough moisture to cook it.

 

[jormom1030]

I haven’t made it in a while, but I would never use cottage cheese. I also would never eat lasagna made with cottage cheese.

 

[LuvOrlando]

OP here again—I went to three grocery stores today and they were all completely out of standard lasagna noodles. Only oven ready was to be had. I guess it’s a popular meal choice for New Year’s!

I didn’t feel like going to our favorite Italian restaurant that sells fresh pasta, so oven ready it is. A little nervous! I do wonder how this impacts the sauce thickness...going to reread everyone’s tips again!!

Since they will soak up a bit of the sauce to soften maybe just make sure you cover the whole top layer with some sauce so the liquid is available. I hope it's wonderful!

 

[RivShore]

My mom used to make the crepe version, so good.

For those craving crepe manicotti, we just found these at Costco. Actually not too bad, almost like homemade.

https://www.costcobusinessdelivery.com/dorazio-crepe-manicotti,-18-ct.product.100316183.html