According to my husband, this version tasted even better than he remembered. To me, it's never been this easy. I am amazed at how much time a food processor saves me in the kitchen. I should have saved my pennies for one sooner! If you live anywhere near a Williams-Sonoma outlet store, go there. I have never seen Cuisinart appliances so reduced; I paid nearly 60% off the list price for brand new, sealed in the box, piece of kitchen equipment.
The recipe has changed since the original post. I tried to simplify the recipe with the food processor. I've included brand and ingredient information since I am not sure what exactly led to it tasting slightly better this time. The farm fresh meat? Raw milk cheese? Less cottage cheese? I wish I could tell you, but I have no clue. Don't fret if you don't have access to the ingredients, I have made this dish many times using non-organic, everyday grocery items and still wanted to clean my plate. Buon appetito!
Gatti Family Lasagna
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I used two tablespoons Colavita and 1 tablespoon Olio Umbro)
1 pound Italian sausage or ground beef (I used just over 1 pound of grass-fed beef)
1 (24-ounce) can peeled whole tomatoes, undrained (I used Muir Glen)
1 medium white onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
2+ cups water
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (I use Penzey's spices)
2 (6-ounce) cans tomato paste (Muir Glen, again)
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
1 pound cottage cheese (I used Organic Valley reduced fat)
2 medium eggs or 1 1/2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
9 lasagna noodles (do not use no-boil noodles)
8-ounce package mozzarella cheese (I used a block of raw milk mozzarella by Organic Valley)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan Stravecchio or Parmigiano-Reggiano (I used the block of whatever was in our refrigerator, which was one of these two types, but it no longer had a label on it.)
To prepare sauce, heat extra virgin olive oil in a large dutch oven and add sausage or ground beef. Cook until brown and reduce heat. Do not drain.
While you brown the beef, add the whole tomatoes to the food processor, reserving liquid in the can for the sauce. Pulse the whole tomatoes to desired consistency. Add diced tomatoes and liquid from the can to the meat when it is browned.
Use the food processor to dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add them to the dutch oven along with 2 cups water, oregano, tomato paste, bay leaf, basil, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 2 hours, uncovered, stirring occasionally so that the sauce does not burn. Add water as needed or additional herbs to taste. When sauce is ready, remove the bay leaf before assembling the lasagna.
During the last 30 minutes that the sauce is cooking, boil lasagna noodles in salted water until almost al dente. Do not use no boil noodles in this recipe or overcook the noodles. Drain, rinse with cold water, and lay on parchment or wax paper until ready to use.
Chop a few pinches of parsley in the food processor until you have 1 1/2 tablespoons. Add the container of cottage cheese, slightly beaten eggs, salt, and pepper. Pulse until combined and refrigerate in a small bowl until ready to assemble.
The mozzarella and Parmesan cheese can be grated using the food processor while you wait for the sauce to finish simmering.
In a 9 x 13-inch dish, start with a thin layer of sauce and cover with 3 noodles. Top noodles with half the cottage cheese mixture, half of the mozzarella cheese, and then sprinkle 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese over top. Repeat using half of the remaining sauce, then cover with 3 noodles, use the remaining cottage cheese and mozzarella, and half of the remaining Parmesan. Add the final layer of 3 noodles, top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake 30 minutes to 1 hour in a 350 degree oven until warm throughout and bubbling at the edges. This recipe freezes well in individual servings to be reheated in the microwave. If reheating in the microwave from the refrigerator, I usually sprinkle each serving with a little water first so it doesn't get too dry.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings.
2 comments:
Sounds fantastic. What do you think of substituting ricotta for the cottage cheese?
Anonymous, that is a great question. I have seen them used interchangeably in other recipes, but I haven't tried it myself.
I did a quick search and found some information below that might be helpful. Good luck!
From Cook's Illustrated when making Baked Ziti:
"Just when the tomato sauce seemed perfect, we added ricotta, and a familiar problem reared its head: Rather than baking up creamy and rich, the ricotta was grainy and dulled the sauce. A different dairy product was clearly in order.
First we tried cottage cheese, and, to our surprise, it was a success. Its pillowy curds have a texture similar to ricotta, but creamier and tangier. And since cottage cheese curds are bigger, they bake up with none of ricotta’s graininess. For our next batch, we boosted the flavor by combining the cottage cheese with eggs, Parmesan, and heavy cream thickened with a bit of cornstarch. Adding this milky, tangy mixture to the tomato sauce produced a sauce that was bright, rich, and creamy—all at the same time."
From Taste of Home:
"When a cheese maker separates milk or cream into curds and whey, the curds are used to make cottage cheese and the whey is used to make ricotta. That's why both cheeses, although similarly soft and mild in flavor, have such different textures. Both are considered "fresh" or unripened cheeses. Both are usually sold in the same type of round plastic container. They can be used in many recipes interchangeably, but there are some distinct differences. Ricotta is a soft cheese that has a fine, moist, grainy texture. Cottage cheese is "lumpier", whether the curds are small or large. Cream is added to the curds to create the rich "creamed cottage cheese" we are all familiar with. For low-fat cottage cheese, 1% or 2% milk replaces the cream. A half cup of creamed cottage cheese contains about 115 calories, while 1% cottage cheese has about 80 calories. A half cup of ricotta cheese made with whole milk contains about 215 calories, while ricotta made partly with skim milk has only 170 calories per half cup. Some savory recipes such as lasagna or stuffed shells will accommodate either cheese. However, because of the extra liquid in cottage cheese, the end result will be runnier than if you use the drier ricotta."
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