Cheese Lasagna from Scratch

slb2008's Note:

This is a great freezer dish. Fresh pasta makes it melt in your mouth good! You can substitute well-drained cottage cheese for the ricotta. I make this at least once a month -- great for the lunch-bag. Enjoy :)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 8-10

Yield: 8.0

• 6 lasagna sheets (12 lasgna noodles)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion , finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , crushed
• salt & pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground sage
• ½ cup white wine
• 1 (28 ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes , broken up into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 (15 ounce) carton ricotta cheese (about 2 cups)
• 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese , shredded
• 2⁄3; cup cheese , grated (see note)
• fresh nutmeg , a few grates
• ½ cup mozzarella cheese , additional

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet, and add the chopped onion and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until softened, then add the salt, pepper and sage. Stir in wine, allow most liquid to boil off. Stir in the undrained tomatoes and tomato paste, simmer 15 minutes until thickened.
2. Put the ricotta, 1-1/2 cups mozzarella, and grated cheese blend in a bowl. Grate in the nutmeg, and mix well with a fork.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F.
4. Boil and drain noodles on kitchen towels.
5. Spread half the sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish, and cover with a single layer of noodles. Layer half the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Put another layer of noodles on top of the cheese filling, layer the last of the cheese, top with the last of the noodles, and then cover with remaining sauce.
6. Bake uncovered 20 minutes, spread additional mozzarella, and bake another 10 minutes, until cheese is melted. Rest 15 minutes before cutting.
7. Note: Grated cheese blend is imported parmesan/romano/asiago/fontina/provalone -- I keep 1 and 2 cup bags of grated cheese in the freezer for cooking -- salty, so adapt recipe for salt.

Reviews

[Shirlsaw]

In my pan this only required 9 noodles to do the three noodle layers. I used a can of diced tomatoes since that was what I had. Also in spite of choosing this recipe because it did not have spinach, I found some in the freezer and added it to the cheese mixture (I don't eat enough veggies!) Easy to make, quick to bake. While it was good it just seemed to me something was missing but I couldn't figure out what that would be - hence only 4 stars for me.