PW's Lasagna

So, this week Melanie's choice was lasagna, page 184 of the cookbook, or you can find the recipe HERE on PW's cooking blog.

first of all we're browning 1 1/2 lb of ground beef and 1lb of hot sausage (only I'm using just 1lb of beed and 1lb of regular sausage because I didn't want a 'spicy' taste to my dish, and I was worried the hot sausage might be too spicy for me!) Add 2 cloves of garlic then 2 cans of whole tomatoes. I have to say now that if I make this again I would use diced tomatoes. I don't know why you would use whole tomatoes only to then have to smash them all up, which actually took some time (and you're often left with some pieces being the green stalk at the top of the tomato!), before it looked like this. . . . .

this also has 2 6oz cans of tomato paste in it, and I've just added fresh basil and parsley from my garden :-) That's really all you do for the meat sauce.

next is the cheese sauce, and in this case PW uses cottage cheese (instead of the usual ricotta cheese) with eggs and herbs and some parmesan.

Once the cheese mixture is done you're ready to assemble your lasagna, assuming you've already boiled your noodles according to the box instructions. Here's where I messed up a little and got the layers wrong. Pw puts pasta, then cheese mix, then slices of mozzarella (the cookbook says to use grated but I had bought slices because her website said slices, and I was actually looking at it when I wrote down my ingredients I needed at the store). I put the meat on top of the pasta first by mistake, and then spooned on the cheese, then the mozzarella, then more pasta. And because I wanted the meat on top like Ree's recipe, I layered cheese again on top of the pasta, totally forgot the second layer of mozzarella!!! then finished with the meat sauce!

Ree's recipe says to top the meat with grated parmesan which I did, but then I still had a few slices of mozzarella I wanted to use so I actually placed 6 slices on top of the dish you see above. I'm actually glad I did - when I think about it, all the lasagnas I've made in the past were topped with mozzarella cheese so it's nice and melted and bubbly when it comes out of the oven..... and here's what mine came out like . . .

YUM!

Verdict: I made this on Mother's Day when my inlaws were coming over for lunch. I was thrilled to serve it with a fresh salad ALL from our garden. . . mixed salad with sugar snap peas and some radishes, and of course some yummy garlic bread too.

The lasagna was really easy to make and assemble. I've made lasagna with cottage cheese before but not for a while and I didn't even use a recipe, just remembered how a friend told me to make it. I'm glad I have a recipe to go to from now on though, and whenever I want to make lasagna (one of Jason's favorite meals!) I shall use PW's recipe. I liked that it had only 2 layers of lasagna noodles which was more than enough pasta for me and lots of meat and cheese sauce. It was excellent. Definitely a keeper!

I have to quote my father-in-law (or Papa as we lovingly call him) when he emailed me the next day to say thank you "The food was better than any Italian restaurant I have ever been too." How's that for a compliment.

If you love a good home cooked Italian meal you MUST try this!