Lasagna (Meatless/Kosher/Vegetarian/Good)
I was on a bike trip in 1978 (yes, another one of those stories) and we stayed in youth hostles and cooked our own food. One of the people in our group was vegetarian and one was Kosher, so I took the recipe from the side of the lasagna noodle box and modified it. Basically, I added some more cheese in place of the meat. It worked pretty well, and I've been making it that way ever since. It's generally a crowd pleaser. The recipe is pretty loose, so if your box of lasagna noodles is very different, feel free to go with that. Some boxes cook at lower temperatures, some cook for different times, but it all winds up tasting pretty good.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound (one box) lasagna noodles
- 32 oz (2 jars, more or less) pasta sauce - I use Barilla Marinara, 2 24oz jars usually works
- 16 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 32 oz ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup parmessan cheese
Preparation:
- Boil the noodles
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
- When the noodles are cooked, drain them and rinse with cool water to make them easier to handle
- Using a 9 x 13 lasagna pan, add a layer of sauce, then a layer of noodles (3 noodles, side by side)
- Add a layer of ricotta and mozzarella cheese, then more sauce, then another layer of noodles
- After the last layer of noodles (when the pan is full, or you're out of noodles or cheese), top off with a layer of sauce
- Sprinkle the parmessan cheese on top, then cover the pan with aluminum foil
- Bake for 20 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for another 5 minutes
- Allow to cool a few minutes before serving - it'll be a little loose, but it gets firmer the next day after being refrigerated and reheated (or earen cold, whatever you like)