Courtship Lasagne-the way to a love's heart...

Lasagne recipe

I made this often during engagement and the early throes of marriage, along with plump meatballs, West-African chicken stews, homemade salad dressings, inspired punches and brownies with more added ingredients than the original boxed contents. 

This can also be adapted for other baked pasta dishes. Mix cooked pasta with cheese mixture and layer in a similar way. 

Makes 6-8 very large servings

1/2 kilo or 1 pound ground beef and pinch baking soda or sodium bicarbonate. Do not use baking powder. 

2 pinches salt, 1/4 teaspoon 

1 tablespoon or 30 ml olive oil, if using lean meat

Thyme, oregano, allspice, black pepper for meat seasoning

3 jars or cans of pasta tomato sauce, 28 ounces or 796 ml each or use cans of crushed tomatoes. Save at least 1/2 can or jar for topping. 

2 cloves minced garlic

Leaves from 8 fresh parsley sprigs, finely chopped. Save a little parsley for topping. 

2 eggs

2 ricotta cheese containers, totaling about 32 ounces or 950 ml or use 1/2 ricotta and 1/2 cottage cheese

1 bag shredded Parmesan cheese, 200g

2 bags shredded whole milk (if available) mozzarella cheese, 400g. Save 1 packet for layering and for topping. 

Fresh pasta sheets, enough for 3 layers, or one dry box lasagne noodles at least 1 pound, 454g. Cook noodles until firm, cool, and set aside in a little cold water. 

Directions:

Cook ground meat in a large skillet with oil, if needed, herbs and spices, salt, and a pinch of baking soda to speed up meat browning. Cook until no longer pink and some meat and the pan get crusty brown. Add tomato sauce and set aside. 

Next, mix most of parsley, all garlic, both eggs and all cheeses except for 1 packet of mozzarella in a large mixing bowl until well combined. 

Set up a station of noodles, meat sauce and cheese mixture. 

Layer 1: 1/2 meat sauce

Layer 2: pasta

Layer 3: 1/2 cheese mixture 

Layer 4: a small sprinkle mozzarella cheese

Layer 5: pasta

Layer 6: 1/3 meat sauce

Layer 7: 1/2 cheese mixture 

Layer 8: a small sprinkle mozzarella cheese

Layer 9: pasta

Next, spread any remaining meat sauce plus tomato sauce on top of pasta. Top with parsley and the rest of mozzarella cheese. 

Bake, covered loosely with oiled aluminum foil at 350 degrees for one hour. If your oven runs hot, check after 45 minutes. When done, it should be bubbly and no longer watery. Turn off oven and remove foil. Leave in oven up to fifteen minutes. Then take out of oven and cover loosely with foil again for at least 20 minutes to allow lasagne to cool and set before serving. 

Make "restaurant" food at home!

We usually cook dinner at home or bring food to eat at home. Going out for dinner is usually a treat or a necessary convenience. First, going out has to be worth it to me. I think of the quality, the investment towards more ingredients and the leftovers: is the meal I'm going to have better than all the perks of cooking at home? Second, am I going to be agitated with the service, cleanliness or the wait? I am usually auditing an establishment with my eyes, and I usually know exactly how long the food has taken. Don't get me wrong, I love a birthday celebration, a kitchen on its A-game, an inventive menu and a good deal like everyone else. Also, if I am sick, have a craving or am getting home late, I tend to eat out more.But convenience? Come on! Home is the most convenient to me.

One weeknight I was weighing my options. I really wanted Italian pasta, but the thought of going out and waiting and maybe not liking the dish gave me pause. Besides, I wanted ravioli and ragu sauce. I went to the Italian market of a local pasta store and bought almost 1 pound fresh ravioli, about 1.5 pounds fresh fettuccine and a package of ladyfingers. Then, I went to the nearest grocery store and picked up a baguette, milk, some cremini aka baby bella mushrooms, organic basil, canned tomatoes, an organic lemon, a red and green bell pepper and spring onions.

As soon as I arrived home, the tomatoes (26 oz), pepperoni, red and green peppers, onion, some pitted olives and olive oil went in the food processor. One pot had water boiling fettuccine; once that finished I saved the drained hot pasta water and cooked the ravioli. Another saucepan had the simmering sauce I made in the food processor. I added some parsley, basil and more snips of pepperoni with kitchen scissors. Meanwhile, I drizzled bread with olive oil and put it in the toaster oven. In the final saucepan, I sliced mushrooms and sauteed them in butter. To that I added some spring onion and a lemon, thinly sliced to get the lemon oil flavor, then added the cooked ravioli and 1/3 cup pasta water. While it simmered, I finished the ravioli with about 1/4 cup Romano cheese and snips of basil.

It was intense work, but we were able to sit down to eat in 40 minutes with two large bowls of delicious gourmet pasta, semi-homemade, and some bread. After our daughter went to bed, I made a "tiramisu" milkshake--a coffee-flavored milkshake that we dipped with ladyfingers.We kept the unused ingredients and made other meals. More importantly, We had at least 4 meals of leftovers. We spent about $40, but I took the ravioli to work for lunch, then we ate the remaining intensely flavored red sauce with tortellini and used it for French bread pizza. I made ricotta (eventually) with the milk, layered ladyfingers and made real tiramisu. What's the lesson in all of this? I think the $40 I spent on the ingredients and the effort to make the food in this case paid off more than paying the same amount (with tax and tip) at a restaurant.

Restaurants have their place and their value--inventive ideas, convenience, the chance to allow you to talk and catch up leisurely. I do challenge people to consider what place home has--budget-friendly, quality-controlled, stocking ingredients, learning and sharing at your own pace. Food for thought!