NCEP: favorite lasagna recipes?

[StrawberryBlondie]

We've convinced the fam to do Italian for Thanksgiving and I'm in charge of lasagna. What's your favorite recipe?

Assume I don't have a preference for ricotta vs cottage cheese vs bechamel (I do, but I am interested in all versions).


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I'll have 7 adults and 4 teenage boys in the mix to feed here.

[Vespasia]

This is my go to cooking for company recipe and it's always a big hit. www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/turkey-lasagna-recipe2-1916662

It has some goat cheese mixed into the ricotta, which gives it more flavor. I generally use pork sausage instead of turkey though.

Before this place I had absolutely never heard of using cottage cheese in lasagna.

[icedcoffee]

www.food.com/recipe/the-1-lasagna-recipe-489318

[heygrey]

If you’re at all interested in making two and want to try a variation, I have gotten good reviews when I made this pumpkin sage white lasagna. It isn’t a replacement for a classic lasagna, but it’s great if you have a crowd and want options.

www.foulmouthgourmet.com/pumpkin-sage-white-lasagna/

[StrawberryBlondie]

Nov 14, 2024 23:24:41 GMT -5 heygrey said:

If you’re at all interested in making two and want to try a variation, I have gotten good reviews when I made this pumpkin sage white lasagna. It isn’t a replacement for a classic lasagna, but it’s great if you have a crowd and want options.

www.foulmouthgourmet.com/pumpkin-sage-white-lasagna/

I intend to make the teenage boys alone 2. 🤣

[cap]

My mom has used this recipe ever since I remember, and it's what I make now. I think it originally came from a Better Homes and Gardens Italian cookbook from the late 70s/early 80s.

Sauce:
1 lb Italian sausage (pork or turkey)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 ½ tsp salt
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
12 oz tomato paste
• Brown sausage in a large saucepan over medium heat. Drain fat. Return to pan, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Filling:
2 eggs
3 cups ricotta cheese
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
• Beat the eggs, add in everything else, and stir well.

1 lb mozzarella cheese slices

Lasagna noodles (no-boil ones work fine)

Assembly:
• Preheat oven to 375*
• Put a single layer of lasagna noodles in the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. (If using the oven-ready ones, add ~1/4 cup of sauce to the bottom of the pan and add a few tablespoons of water first to make sure they cook and don’t stick.)
• Spread ½ of the ricotta mixture over the noodles.
• Layer ½ lb of mozzarella on top of the ricotta mixture.
• Layer ½ of the sauce on top of the ricotta mixture.
• Repeat layers.
• Bake for 30 minutes.

[gottadobe]

I use this one and it's always a hit

World's Best Lasagna

[livinitup]

Cottage cheese in lasagna is an abomination.






(I fully support you doing whatever you want in any recipe. I just feel compelled to let you know about this. Don’t let it stop you.)

[underwaterrhymes]

I haven’t made this yet, but I want to. It looks amazing but is definitely not a typical lasagna recipe.

www.veganricha.com/french-onion-skillet-lasagna/

[StrawberryBlondie]

Nov 15, 2024 10:50:45 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

I haven’t made this yet, but I want to. It looks amazing but is definitely not a typical lasagna recipe.

www.veganricha.com/french-onion-skillet-lasagna/

Ooh, not for Thanksgiving, but for, say, dinner this weekend, this looks amazing.

[tacokick]

Nov 15, 2024 10:38:33 GMT -5 livinitup said:

Cottage cheese in lasagna is an abomination.






(I fully support you doing whatever you want in any recipe. I just feel compelled to let you know about this. Don’t let it stop you.)

I think it came from ricotta being a difficult to find ingredient in areas without a large Italian population and people just stick with family recipes.

I know we have a Little Italy and the regular grocery stores didn’t really carry it with any regularity until I was in college. You’d have to go to a speciality store and it was expensive—several times more than cottage cheese. I don’t think the average person was seeking it out.

My husband talks about when he went to college in Austin, TX and Italian ingredients were in the “international” aisle and were only the true basics. Whereas in NYC where he grew up, it’s own aisle to itself in the middle of the store.


So… regional??

[tacokick]

My biggest tip is to see if any place near you sells fresh lasagna sheets. Even if they don’t year round, Italian markets often do this time of year. So much tastier, quicker and easier than using the thin strips of dried noodles.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Nov 15, 2024 12:29:06 GMT -5 tacokick said:

My biggest tip is to see if any place near you sells fresh lasagna sheets. Even if they don’t year round, Italian markets often do this time of year. So much tastier, quicker and easier than using the thin strips of dried noodles.

Oh, yeah, there's an Italian market like a 5 minute drive from my house.

[1confused1]

I make these every Christmas, they are so good. The first one really is easy, the second one takes a little longer but is still easy (I hate cooking).

damndelicious.net/2016/03/19/easiest-lasagna-ever/

damndelicious.net/2015/03/07/creamy-spinach-and-mushroom-lasagna/

[statgirl]

Nov 14, 2024 21:35:16 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

www.food.com/recipe/the-1-lasagna-recipe-489318

This is the one I make. It had its own website when I found it.

[scm1011]

Nov 15, 2024 10:38:33 GMT -5 livinitup said:

Cottage cheese in lasagna is an abomination.






(I fully support you doing whatever you want in any recipe. I just feel compelled to let you know about this. Don’t let it stop you.)

I'll agree and raise this - anything but bechamel is an abomination. 

[arehopsveggies]

Nov 14, 2024 23:24:41 GMT -5 heygrey said:

If you’re at all interested in making two and want to try a variation, I have gotten good reviews when I made this pumpkin sage white lasagna. It isn’t a replacement for a classic lasagna, but it’s great if you have a crowd and want options.

www.foulmouthgourmet.com/pumpkin-sage-white-lasagna/

Yeah, I was coming in this thread to say if it was for Thanksgiving I’d do a pumpkin sage lasagna. Not an expected lasagna but always a hit

[adalove]

I follow this loosely, like I use red wine, usually only use ground beef, tons more spices, and add mozzarella cheese (and a lot of it). It is great, but I am in the camp of only béchamel. Once I had it that way in Italy I never went back to ricotta. nymag.com/restaurants/articles/recipes/lasagnabolognese.htm

[ECB]

This is another Ina recipe - I've made it many times and it's sooooooo good.

thedoughwillriseagain.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/inas-lasagna-with-sausage-and-goat-cheese/

[dirtyred]

Nov 15, 2024 10:38:33 GMT -5 livinitup said:

Cottage cheese in lasagna is an abomination.






(I fully support you doing whatever you want in any recipe. I just feel compelled to let you know about this. Don’t let it stop you.)

This may be hard to believe, but not everyone has access to ricotta.  The town my dad lived in was a ricotta and monterrey jack desert.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Nov 18, 2024 12:51:50 GMT -5 dirtyred said:

Nov 15, 2024 10:38:33 GMT -5 livinitup said:

Cottage cheese in lasagna is an abomination.






(I fully support you doing whatever you want in any recipe. I just feel compelled to let you know about this. Don’t let it stop you.)

This may be hard to believe, but not everyone has access to ricotta.  The town my dad lived in was a ricotta and monterrey jack desert.

I thought my mom was going to die of happiness once when she saw provolone at the grocery store by my house.