Busy Day Lasagna Recipes

Steps:

• Make the sauce: Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add sausage, if using, and cook, stirring occasionally, until it's starting to brown but not yet crisp, about 5 minutes.
• Add onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is totally softened and translucent (without letting it brown), 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and continue to cook, stirring until the tomato paste has turned a deeper brick red color, tinting the oil and onions a fiery orange color, about 2 minutes.
• Using your hands, crush the whole tomatoes into smaller, bite-size pieces and add them and the crushed tomatoes, stirring to scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pot. Fill one of the tomato cans halfway with water and add it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato sauce has thickened and flavors have come together, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Make the lasagna: Heat oven to 375 degrees and set a large pot of salted water to boil.
• Set aside 1 cup mozzarella. In a medium bowl, combine remaining mozzarella, ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan and cream; season with salt and pepper and set aside.
• Cook lasagna noodles in the large pot of salted boiling water until just softened (before they are even aldente), about 4 minutes. Drain and separate any noodles that are trying to stick together, slicking them with a bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking further.
• Spoon a bit of sauce on the bottom of a 3-quart baking dish and top with a layer of noodles, avoiding any heavy overlap.
• Top with about 1 ¼ cups of sauce, and dollop ¼ of the cheese mixture over. Top with another layer of noodles and repeat three more times, ending with the last of the noodles (depending on size of the noodle/shape of the baking dish, you may have a few extra noodles) and the last of the sauce. Top with reserved 1 cup mozzarella and more Parmesan, if you like.
• Cover loosely with aluminum foil and place baking dish on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet (to prevent any overflow from burning on the bottom of your oven).
• Bake until pasta is completely tender and cooked through and sauce is bubbling up around the edges, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove foil and increase temperature to 450 degrees. Continue to bake until lasagna is golden brown on top with frilly, crispy edges and corners, another 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly before eating.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 X 9 dish (which is a 3 quart dish)
• Cook pasta in boiling water 8 - 10 minutes, drain.
• Cook ground beef until brown, drain fat.
• Add ground beef to the cooked pasta and spaghetti sauce; mix well.
• Pour 1/2 of the pasta/beef mixture into greased dish. On top of this, spread the cottage cheese in an even layer; sprinkle with 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese.
• Place remaining pasta mixture over cheese, top with remaining mozzarella cheese. cover and bake in oven for 25-35 minutes. You may want to uncover for the last 10 minutes. Cheese should be melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting/serving.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Drain noodles well; stir into cheese mixture., Spread 1 cup pasta sauce into a greased 11x7-in. baking dish. Layer with half of the noodle mixture and 1 cup sauce; layer with the remaining noodle mixture and sauce. Sprinkle with remaining cheese., Cover with greased foil; bake until heated through, 10-15 minutes.

Steps:

• For the sauce, heat 1/2 cup oil in a large heavy Dutch oven or kettle over low heat. Add the onions, minced garlic and pancetta, and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes, until the onions are wilted. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Raise heat slightly, add the wine and cook until it is mostly reduced, about 20 minutes. Crush the tomatoes into the pan, and add their juice. Add the tomato paste and 2 cups lukewarm water. Simmer for 1 hour.
• Combine the sirloin, cheese and eggs in a large bowl. Chop the parsley with the whole garlic until fine, then stir into the beef mixture. Season lavishly with salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix until all the ingredients are well blended. Shape into meatballs and set aside.
• Heat the remaining oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Dust the meatballs lightly with flour, shaking off excess, and lay into the hot oil. Brown the meatballs on all sides (do not cook through) and transfer to the sauce.
• In a clean skillet, brown the sausages over medium-high heat. Transfer to the sauce. Simmer 1 1/2 hours.
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, eggs, pecorino Romano, parsley and all but 1 cup of the mozzarella. Season well with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
• Remove the meatballs and sausage from the sauce, and set aside to cool slightly, then chop coarsely. Spoon a thick layer of sauce into the bottom of a 9-by-12-inch lasagna pan. Cover with a layer of noodles. Spoon more sauce on top, then add a third of the meat and a third of the cheese mixture. Repeat for 2 more layers, using all the meat and cheese. Top with a layer of noodles, and cover with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle reserved mozzarella evenly over the top. Bake 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Steps:

• Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir beef and onion in the hot skillet until beef browns and onion softens, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and discard grease.
• Add spaghetti sauce, cream cheese, and sour cream to the skillet. Mix well.
• Spray a 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Layer noodles, beef mixture, and cheeses in the slow cooker. Repeat layers as necessary until cooker is full.
• Cover and cook on High for 2 hours. Switch to Low and cook until noodles are soft and cheeses are melted, about 2 hours more.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 350°. Put the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning in the bowl. Stir with the spoon until mixed.
• Spoon 1 cup of the spaghetti sauce evenly over bottom of the baking dish. Top with 4 of the uncooked lasagna noodles.
• Spread 1 cup of the ricotta cheese mixture over noodles, using the back of the spoon. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese.
• Spread 1 cup of the spaghetti sauce over mozzarella cheese. Make more layers with 4 lasagna noodles, the rest of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup spaghetti sauce. (Be sure the spaghetti sauce completely covers the noodles.) Sprinkle with the rest of the mozzarella cheese.
• Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until lasagna is hot in center and cheese is melted. Use the pot holders to take pan out of oven it will be very hot and heavy. Let lasagna cool for 15 minutes. Cut into 4 rows by 2 rows, using the knife.