Alternative Lasagna Recipes

LASAGNA CASSEROLE - EASY (BUT DELICIOUS!)

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil on the stovetop.
• Add in your pasta and allow it to cook until it's al dente (cook the pasta for one or two minutes less than it says to on the back of the packet). Once you finish cooking the pasta, drain the water, and keep the pasta ready on your counter.
• Place a large skillet onto a medium heat on the stovetop and throw in your ground beef, chopped onions, and minced garlic. Allow the ingredients to cook on medium heat until the ground beef is browned all over, and the onions have softened up.
• Add in your Italian herbs and seasoning alongside salt and pepper to taste. Stir before pouring over your marinara sauce. Pour in a little water (no more than 2 tbsps) to lighten the sauce.
• Allow the ingredients to simmer in the sauce until it's warmed up (no need to boil), then add your drained pasta to the mix and stir everything together.
• Now you need to prepare a 13 x 9-inch casserole dish and preheat your oven to 350 °F.
• While the oven is preheating, pour your ricotta cheese into a large mixing bowl. Crack your large egg into the bowl and whisk it into the cheese.
• Shred your mozzarella cheese and grate your parmesan. Add half of both kinds of cheese to the mixing bowl. Stir everything together with a light seasoning of pepper.
• Now it's time to layer your lasagna casserole. First, pour half of the sauce, beef, and pasta into the baking dish. Add a smooth layer of your cheese mixture, then add a second layer of sauce, beef, and pasta.
• Add any leftover cheese mixture to the top, cover the pan with tin foil, and then place the lasagna casserole into the oven.
• After 30 min of baking, take the easy lasagna casserole out of the oven, remove the tin foil, and cover the top with the rest of your grated parmesan and shredded mozzarella.
• Place the lasagna back into the oven, this time uncovered. Bake for a further 10 min to give the lasagna a cheesy, yet golden brown finish.
• Leave to cool, sprinkle with fresh basil, and serve up to a hungry dinner table!

LEEK LASAGNA WITH SMOKED HAM AND BECHAMEL

Steps:

• Clean the leeks by trimming off the leafy dark green part and the root end; saving the light green to white part of the vegetable. Cut the leeks into 2-3 cylinders of about 10 cm.
• Add the leek pieces to a pot and fill with water until the leeks are covered. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. When the leeks have cooked through and are soft, drain the water and let the leeks cool until easy to handle.
• While the leeks are cooking, make the bechamel. Add the flour to a saucepan and set it on medium-high heat. Lightly toast the flour for a couple of minutes, then add the butter. Stir with a whisk to melt the butter, it will combine with the flour into a roux. When all the butter has melted, add the cold milk in one go. Keep whisking, the roux will melt as the milk warms. Bring to a boil, it will thicken. Add a sprinkle of salt and a pinch of nutmeg to taste.
• When the leeks are cool enough to handle, cut them lengthwise and "unroll". Leeks are layered - an optimal thicness for a single leek sheet is 2 leek layers.
• Dice, slice, or mince the ham, according to your preference. I used sliced smoked ham which I have cut into smaller bits.
• Spread a thin layer of bechamel over the bottom of a casserole dish and cover with leek sheets as if making regular lasagna with pasta sheets. Spread bechamel all over the leek layer evenly. Add 1/3 of the ham and sprinkle some parmesan all over. Repeat this procedure until the casserole dish is filled with leek layers alternated by bechamel and ham filling. Depending on the size of the leeks you should be able to get 3 or 4 layers.
• Lay out the last layer of leek sheets on the top and spread the last of the bechamel all over, in order to lock the moisture in. Add a more generous amount of parmesan to the top layer, to create a crunchy top finish.
• Bake at 200°C for 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, switch the oven settings to broil to ensure the top part will brown. For easier cutting, let the leek lasagna set for 10 minutes after you take it out of the oven.

BEST VEGAN LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. If you soaked your cashews, drain and rinse them until the water runs clear.
• In a blender, combine the cashews, water, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and mustard. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. If you're having trouble blending the mixture, slowly blend in up to ½ cup additional water, using only as much as necessary. Set aside.
• Then, we'll prepare the vegetables: In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Once shimmering, add the onion, carrots, mushrooms, salt and several twists of black pepper. Cook, stirring every couple of minutes, until most of the moisture is gone and the vegetables are tender and turning golden on the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add another splash of olive oil if necessary to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• Add a few large handfuls of spinach to the skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until the spinach has wilted. Repeat with remaining spinach and cook until all of the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, stirring constantly, about 30 seconds. Remove the skillet from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Spread 3/4 cup tomato sauce evenly over the bottom of a 9" by 9" baking dish. Layer 3 lasagna noodles on top (snap off their ends to fit, and/or overlap their edges as necessary). Spread 1 cup of the cashew cream evenly over the noodles. Top with half of the veggies. Top with ¾ cup tomato sauce.
• Top with 3 more noodles, followed by another 1 cup cashew cream (save the leftover cream). Then add the remaining veggies.
• Top with 3 more noodles, then spread ¾ cup tomato sauce over the top to evenly cover the noodles.
• Wrap a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil around the top of the lasagna, making sure it's taut so it doesn't touch the top. Bake, covered, for 25 minutes, then remove the cover, rotate the pan by 180° and continue cooking for about 5 to 10 more minutes, until it's steaming and lightly bubbling at the corners.
• Remove the pan from the oven and let the lasagna cool for 15 to 20 minutes, so it has time to set and cool down to a reasonable temperature. Drizzle leftover cashew cream on top (if it's too thick to drizzle, thin it out with a small amount of water first). Sprinkle vegan Parmesan and fresh basil on top, if using, then slice and serve.

ALTERNATIVE LASAGNA

Steps:

• Fry chicken and sausage meat together until fully cooked. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
• Put aside meat mixture. In same skillet, heat oil then add eggplant, onion, mushrooms, celery, garlic, carrot and spinach.
• When veggies are cooked, take off heat and add the meat mixture, soup, ricotta and 1/2 cup of milk.
• In a separate pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour, stir thoroughly, then slowly add 2 cups of milk. Let simmer for a minute or two, until you get a smooth white sauce. While simmering, add 1/2 cup parmesan, 1 tsp nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.
• In a 9 x 11 pan, spread just enough sauce to cover the bottom. Place a few noodles on top. Spread the meat mixture on top of noodles. Continue with this pattern until the last layer of noodles are spread with a little sauce and 1/2 cup of parmesan.
• Cook at 375F for 45 minutes.