If you haven’t checked out the post on big batch bolognese yet, I’d do it now, since this recipe uses that recipe 😀
Hey guys. Remember when I said that if you make that big batch of bolognese, every day can be lasagne day? I am here to prove I was not bullshitting you.
The pic on this post is a lasagne I made this morning. This took 40 minutes EXACTLY from start to finish with absolutely no prep, I swear to god. AND I couldn’t find half my herbs so like, that took some time too, and I was taking notes. 😀
Yes, the pic shows hand-made pasta in it, but that is NOT A REQUISITE and it makes no damn difference in terms of time. I just had a bunch of scraps from a lasagne I made last week that were laying around the drying table and I used them.
Here’s how it you do the voodoo.
Lasagne with Big Batch Bolognese Sauce
Course: MainCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy6
servings20
minutes30
minutesThis lasagne is amazing. It ticks off all the boxes: cheesy, meaty, savory, gooey-delicious. AND it’s easy to make, and quick if you have made the sauce ahead and frozen it.
It’s not your grandma’s lasagne. It’s mine. And it’s better.
Ingredients
2 tbsp Salt
A large pot full of water
454 g (1 lb) Lasagne noodles. Usually one package. If I don’t have homemade noodles, I use De Cecco
4 cups big batch bolognese sauce, thawed
16 oz full fat ricotta
1 egg
1 heaping tablespoon parsley
1 heaping tablespoon basil
2 tsp garlic powder
4 oz cheap dry mozzerella*
8 oz provolone**
Directions
- Boil a pot of water and then put the salt in. While it comes up to the boil, you can do the next 3 things:
- Heat the 4 cups on bolognese over medium heat (this is optional, but it really cuts down the bake time, and you’re not gonna use it for a hot second anyway.)
- Combine the egg, ricotta, dried basil, dried parsley and garlic powder and stir to incorporate. Set aside.
- Grate the mozzarella and provolone into a bowl or dish and toss to combine, and set aside
- Once water is boiling, dump lasagne noodles in and cook until half done, about 5 minutes. Either remove to a cold bowl of water or lie flat on a dish towel.
- Assembling the lasagne
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Farrenheit.
- Ladle a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of a 9×13 casserole.
- Lay lasagne noodles in the casserole. It doesn’t matter which way they’re going, if they’re quite touching or overlapping or what. Except for the top layer, no one will EVER BE ABLE TO TELL. So just lay them in there in one layer, however is easiest.
- Ladle another layer of sauce, about a half a cup, over the pasta.
- Daub about a half cup of the ricotta over the sauce and smear it around.
- Sprinkle a fist-full of cheese on top of the ricotta.
- Repeat steps 2-5 3 more times for a total of 4 layers
- By now you should have pretty much run out of sauce and ricotta The final top layer of pasta usually only has a smear of sauce and a little ricotta and all the rest of your mozzerella/provolone mix. If it looks a little bare, grate a little extra cheese on there and toss that guy in the oven uncovered for 30 minutes.***
- Once the cheese is brown and it’s warmed through, it’s ready to go. But it’ll be 10 times better if it gets to rest for a few minutes. You want that epic cheese string pull? The secret is this extra 5 minutes. But hey. you do you.
Notes
- *This is usually sold with the rest of the cheap packaged cheese. You could use fresh mozz, but it’ll be goopier. But it’ll still be awesome.
- **In general, use whatever damn cheese you have/want. I’ve used some combo of mozzerella, sharp provolone, mild provolone, Assiago, Manchego, Parmesan, cheddar, WHATEVER. No one has ever complained about the kind of cheese that has melted out of this amazing-ness. As long as the overall volume is about right you can’t go wrong.
- ***The 30 minute cook time assumes you’ve warmed up your sauce. If not, just add another…idk. 10 minutes? Something like that. Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temp if you’re worried. Should be about 165 degrees in there.
So there you have it. Lasagne in under an hour. All because of that bolognese sauce. I’ve done about 50 different versions of lasagne. I’ve made it with bechamel sauce and cheese, I’ve made it with spinach and all kinds of other shit, I even gave the old skillet lasagne a try and they are all good. I mean you can’t add that much cheese and sauce to pasta and have a bad dish. But this one takes the cake. It’s the best.
Put it in your face. Happy devouring.
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