I am so into making pasta lately, I think it has been a whole month where I eat pasta every single day, sometimes just for lunch, most days for both lunch and dinner and not only I have zero waste. I also have zero regret. Because of my natural urges of eating pasta daily, I also have pesto, meat sauce, butter and cream ready at all times in my fridge. Just so my pasta cooking and eating process can be so minimal -all my pasta is homemade so it took longer for me to cook pasta than most people. I better armed myself with all various sauce ready to reheat.
Like this one, I made homemade lasagna noodle sheets. You can totally just use regular, no boil lasagna noodles for this recipe. Because I used cast iron skillet, I made my lasagna noodles round and as big as the skillet. If you use regular no boil noodles, you can just break them into medium pieces so you can fit the shape of the skillet. Another alternative is to use a loaf bread tin.
Another alternative for vegetarian friends out there, shredded tofu or veggies can be great substitutes. And lasagna noodles can be substituted with zucchini or eggplants. But if you are a proud meat and cheese eater like me, then just follow this recipe below, exactly. You are welcome!
This recipe serves 2.
Ingredients:
225gr or half pound ground meat (beef, chicken, pork or combination of all three)
1 small onion -chopped
2 cloves garlic -minced
2 cups marinara sauce
100gr lasagna noodles -broken into 2″ pieces
1 cup mozzarella cheese
¾ cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper
Parsley or basil for garnish
Instructions:
- In a medium skillet over medium high heat, saute onions for about 1-2 minutes, add garlic and continue cooking for another minute.
- Add ground meat and cook until browned for about 5 minutes. Add marinara sauce and bring it to boil, turn the heat down to medium and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt & pepper.
- While the meat sauce is simmering, prepare the ricotta mixture. In a medium bowl, combine together: ricotta cheese, egg, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper. Set aside.
- Assemble the lasagna by pouring about 1/4 cup of the meat sauce into an 8″ cast iron skillet. Top with a third of lasagna noodles, then add ricotta mixture evenly, sprinkle some mozzarella. Repeat with remaining ingredients in the same order.
- The order is: meat sauce, noodles, ricotta mix, mozzarella cheese; meat sauce, noodles, ricotta mix, mozzarella cheese, and so on. I do 3 layers but you can do as many layers as you want as long as the ingredients permit.
- Bake in a 400F preheated oven for 20 minutes with the last 5 minutes turning the oven setting to broil.
- Let it cool for about 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Note:
I have my meat sauce as a staple in my fridge so this recipe could be fairly easy and quick.