Lasagna, Pt. 2 (How to make lasagna/spaghetti sauce)

I love this meat sauce. When we have it atop spaghetti, I look forward to it all day, if not all week. This is another family recipe, this time handed down from my aunt Katy to my mom to me. Enjoy!

Spaghetti/Lasagna sauce

Recipe from: Katy Lyren

Makes: plenty for spaghetti or an 8x8 pan of lasagna, double recipe for a 9x13 pan of lasagna

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/2 to 1 t. oregano

2 t. sugar

1 pkg. onion soup mix

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 1/4 c. hot water

Directions:

Brown beef and garlic powder together.

When beef is browned, add rest of the ingredients, and simmer till slightly thickened, or until desired consistency.

For Lasagna:

Ingredients for 8x8 pan, double for 9x13

1 recipe pasta dough

1 recipe lasagna sauce

1 small container cottage cheese and/or ricotta cheese

Shredded cheese of your choice, opt.

Assembly:

Layer 1 row of noodles, 1 layer of cheese, one layer of sauce. Repeat. Top with one layer noodles, and one layer of cheese. Top with shredded cheese, if desired.

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350°. (Bake up to 1 hr if using 9x13.)

Lasagna, Pt. 1: How to make your own Pasta Dough

There is nothing better on a cold winter night than a fresh-from-the-oven homemade meal. Comfort food, by its very nature, is required on those nights. Chili, meatloaf, lasagna. Now, I realize that people are busy, that spending an afternoon making dinner is not desirable. HOWEVER. This recipe is completely worth it. I promise. It doesn't have to take forever, but it will take a bit as you're learning the recipe.  Once you've got it down, it'll only take about 20 minutes, tops, start to finish. Add in making the sauce, and you've got another 20 or so, plus oven time. Your family will love you for this. YOU will love you for this. Your hips may not, but even they can be placated by portion control. Without further ado, part one of how to make lasagna from scratch.

Homemade Noodles

Recipe from Gayle Van Camp (my mom)

Makes: Enough dough for an 8x8 pan of lasagna. (Mom says she can get a 9x13 out of this recipe...I double it for that.)

Ingredients:

 2 eggs

4 T. (1/4 c.) milk

2 c. all-purpose flour (can use up to 3/4 c. whole wheat flour)

1 t. salt

Directions:

Beat eggs in mixer a little.

Add milk, mix.

Beat 1 c. flour in at a time, alternating with salt.

Let mixer form it to a ball, (you may have to lock it in place if you can do that). 

Here's where my mom and I differ...she says grease the counter, I say flour it. Basically, if you want to let the dough dry completely and store it, greasing works, but it takes a long time. If you want to use the dough right away, flour the counter.

Flour your counter. :) Your dough will be a bit sticky now, so flip it around on the counter a bit so it collects some extra flour.  

Roll out your dough as thin as possible (check out these little rolling pin spacer things! They work great if I need a precise thickness - I ended up just putting on the thinnest set, which simply kept me from rolling the dough too thin) and cut the dough to size.

If you choose to grease the counter, roll the dough out as thin as possible, let dry some, then cut to width desired. Let dry more, then flip with a spatula so the back side can dry too. Once completely dry, you can store in the fridge or freezer until needed.

These noodles work famously for soups, to eat as regular pasta (though I usually can't get them thin enough for that...) or, my favorite use for them, in homemade lasagna.  My meat sauce recipe for this is upcoming, so check back soon!

Pesto.

I had a rather large basil plant when I made this. It has since died, and I must start anew.  If you have your own homegrown basil, this is a great way to use it. If you can get a lot for cheap somewhere, that's fine too. If you can only find basil in the super small, super spendy packages at the grocery store, this may not be how you want to use it...but who am I to say? This is a good condiment, and works great if you have some on hand to stir into cooked pasta for a quick dinner. I'm told there are other uses, but I haven't explored them as yet.

Traditional Pesto

Recipe from: How to cook Everything Vegetarian, by Mark Bittman

Makes: about 1 cup pesto

Ingredients:

2 loosely packed cups fresh basil leaves, rinsed and dried (pat dried, not 'crunchy' dried)

salt

1/2 clove or more garlic

2 T. pine nuts or walnuts

1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil, or more

1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan, pecorino romano, or other hard cheese (optional) (I didn't use this)

Directions:

Combine the basil with a pinch of salt, the garlic, the nuts, and about half the oil in a food processor or blender.  Process, stopping to scrape down the sides of the container if necessary and adding the rest of the oil gradually.

Add more oil if you prefer a thinner mixture. Store in the refrigerator for a week or two or in the freezer for several months. Stir in the parmesan by hand just before serving. (I don't like parmesan, and so skipped this step.)

Spaghetti Squash Italiano.

I did not know I liked spaghetti squash.  The first time I had it, I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting the slightly sweet squashy flavor that I did encounter.  Probably because the first time I had it I ate it with spaghetti sauce, which seemed logical, but it tasted horrible. (Plenty of people prefer it this way, but I couldn't get over the idea that I was expecting pasta under my sauce!) In any case, I thought I didn't like spaghetti squash because of this. That is, until I came across this recipe.  It is delicious, let me tell you.  Bonus, almost everything in it is absolutely fresh. (Non-fresh items? Olive oil and Parmesan cheese...not too shabby. And I suppose the pine nuts/walnuts. But I digress.)

If you've been on the fence about trying spaghetti squash, or squash in general, I urge you to try this recipe.  Your family, and your tastebuds, with thank you.

Spaghetti Squash Italiano, from Easy Everyday Cooking (Better Homes & Gardens)

Ingredients:

2 small spaghetti squash (1 1/4 o 1 1/2 lbs. each) (WEIGH BEFORE YOU BUY! I can't find any under 2 lbs. at my supermarket, so I make this recipe with one squash instead of 2)

4 oz. mozzerella cheese, cut into small cubes (1 cup) (Mozzerella, good mozzerella, should be packed in water, or at the very least feel quite squishy. None of this perfect block stuff. Most will be in a ball shape.)

3 med. tomatoes, seeded and chopped (I usually sub in roma tomatoes, which are meatier and have less juice, though they are smaller. If you do this, add at least one extra roma.)

4 green onions, sliced (or more...more is good.)

1/2 c. pine nuts or coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

1/4 c. fresh basil or parsley (you can usually find fresh parsley mixed in with all the lettuce at the supermarket, and it's much cheaper than fresh basil, and just as good in this recipe)

1 T. olive oil or cooking oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T. grated parmesan cheese (we didn't use any)

Directions:

Halve ths squash lengthwise and remove the seeds.  Prick skin all over with a sharp knife.  Place halves, cut sides down, in a 3-qt. rectangular baking dish.  Cover and bake in a 350° oven for 60 to 70 minutes or until squash is tender.

Using a fork, carefully rake the squash pulp to separate it into strands, leaving the strands in the shells.  Sprinkle one-fourth of the mozzerella into each of the pasta shells, toss lightly.  Push the squash mixture up the sides of the shells.

Meanwhile, for filling, in a medium mixing bowl combine tomatoes, green onions, nuts, basil or parsley, oil, and garlic.  Spoon the filling into squash shells.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Return to baking dish.  Bake about 20 minutes more or until filling is heated through. Makes 4 servings.

Ideally, each shell is one serving.  If you find squash like I do, it'll be 2 servings, so again, weigh your squash to check size.  Enjoy!