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–+ servings

Basic Lasagna

I have made this recipe many times now and it is delicious. Lasagna can be intimidating, but following a few shortcuts and you can make a tasty and delicious meal, that serves a lot! Many recipes call for the meat sauce as ground beef and Italian sausage, I am going to make the Italian sausage as I cook ground pork. Cottage cheese can be expensive if store bought, I am going to use the shortcut listed on this site. The most expensive part will be the Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Not a $1 meal but you can feed a crowd. I made this on 10 April 2016 and took the photos. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
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Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 12 servings

Ingredients
  

For the Meat Sauce

  • 1 kilo ground pork, or ground beef, or half and half, (2 lbs)
  • 1 can whole tomatoes, drained and chopped, keep the juice
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 6 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
  • 2 teaspoons dried parsley
  • 2 teaspoons dried basil
  • 2 teaspoons fennel seeds

To Assemble

  • 1 package lasagna noodles, the oven ready type, you will not use all of them
  • 400 grams Mozzarella Cheese, shredded, (14 oz)
  • 150 grams Parmesan cheese, shredded, (5 oz)
  • 4 cups Cottage cheese, (Shortcut)
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil

Instructions
 

Meat Sauce

  • Add a splash of olive oil to a large pot and heat, add onion and garlic, when translucent, add the meat and spices and mix well with the spatula (you are making a cheater Italian sausage. When cooked through and no longer pink, drain the fat, I use a colander for this, then return to the pot.
  • Add the tomato paste and the chopped tomatoes, and about half of the tomato juice. On a light simmer, cook for about 20-30 minutes covered. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit of tomato juice retained from the can of tomatoes, not too much though. Adjust the sauce for salt and sugar during the cooking.

to Assemble

  • Preheat your oven to 200 C (390 F). Get out a 9x13 baking dish.
  • Now, take out a small handful of Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese and set aside, this is for the final layer. OR, as I do, I just use shred another 200 gram block of Mozzarella and add additional grated Parmesan cheese for use on the top.
  • Mix the cottage cheese, remaining Mozzerella and Parmesan together with the beaten eggs and spices. If making the cottage cheese from the shortcut on my site, make 4 cups, meaning 4 liters of milk, vinegar stays the say in the recipe.
  • Spoon just enough sauce into the bottom of the baking dish to cover the bottom. Then place the following layers:
  • Noodles, you can overlap slightly, 1/3 of the cheese mixture. 1/3 of the meat sauce. Repeat with noodles, 1/3 the cheese, and 1/3 the meat sauce, repeat again with noodles, 1/3 cheese, and 1/3 meat sauce. Now sprinkle on the retained Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses that you set aside. Photo shows the first layer added.
  • Bake for 30 minutes, if getting dark, remove, if still light colored, continue for 40 minutes. Photo shows the completed dish before going into the oven.
  • Here is a lasagna I made for friends in Dec 2018, topped with 12 slices of Provolone, before baking.
  • IMPORTANT, after removing from the oven, this needs to rest and cool a bit, as right out of the oven you have 200 degree C cheese lava! Let it rest and it will firm up a bit as well.
  • Cut into squares, serve with a salad or garlic bread to extend this meal. Enjoy.

Notes

Minced pork is about 112 Baht/kilo. Mozzarella cheese will run about 145 Baht/200 grams. Will need at least 2 blocks for 290 Baht. Parmesan will run about about 180 Baht/125 grams, will need 2 packs for 360 Baht. For the Cottage cheese, I cannot stress this enough, make it yourself from the shortcut listed on the site, this will work out to about 220 Baht.
This works out to about $1.70 per meal per person, over all, not bad! This is well below what you would find in any restaurant! The beauty of this dish, is that you made it yourself, it takes an effort and time spent in the kitchen, but the taste is well worth it, and you know exactly what is in it.
Shortcut: Cottage Cheese.
Variant: 1. Top the entire lasagna with a layer of sliced Provolone, Gouda, or Edam, yummy!
Family recipe I have been using for years.