Fresh Tomato 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 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and set aside.
• Place pork and beef in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Stir in tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, parsley, garlic, oregano, onion, sugar, basil and salt. Simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• In a large bowl, combine cottage cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.
• In a 9x13 inch baking dish, place 2 layers of noodles on the bottom of dish; layer 1/2 of the cheese mixture, 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese and 1/2 of the sauce; repeat layers.
• Cover with aluminum foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes; let stand for 10 minutes before cutting; serve.

Steps:

• 1) In a small pot or Dutch oven, heatl oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. While this is happening, crush the tomatoes with a food mill or by hand and add them to the pot. (You could probably just buy crushed tomatoes, too, but I haven't tried it.) Bring pot to a boil. Drop heat to a simmer. Cook 80 minutes, until sauce is a little thickened. Kill heat. Add "2/3 cup basil, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper." Stir. Set aside.
• 2) Preheat oven to 375°F Spray a 13x9 Pyrex/baking dish with cooking spray.
• 3) In a medium saucepan, heat ricotta over medium heat. When hot, add mozzarella. Stir until mozz is all melted, and fully incorporated with the ricotta. Kill heat. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Stir.
• 4) Pour 2 cups tomato sauce in baking dish. Spread to cover bottom. Place 4 noodles over the sauce. Add all the ricotta/mozzarella and spread out on noodles. Place 4 remaining noodles on top of cheese. Spread last 2 cups tomato mixture on noodles. Sprinkle with the parmesan. Bake for 15 minutes, "or until cheese melts and filling is bubbly." Take out of oven. Garnish with basil. Give lasagna a few minutes to cool and set. Serve.
• Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving.
• 290 calories, 11.8 g fat, $1.28.

Steps:

• Heat oil in small Dutch oven over medium heat.
• Add onion and garlic. Cook 10 minute or till tender, stirring occasionally.
• Add tomato. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour 20 minutes or till slightly thickened.
• Remove from heat. Stir in 2/3 cup basil, 2/3 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 375.
• Heat ricotta in a medium sauce pan over medium heat till hot. Stir in mozzarella, stirring till melted. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining salt and pepper.
• Spread 2 cups tomato mixture in bottom of 13 x 9 casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange half the noodles over tomato mixture. Top with ricotta mixture. Arrange remaining noodles over ricotta mixture. Top with remaining 2 cups tomato mixture. Sprinkle evenly with Parmesan.
• Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or till cheese melts and filling is bubbly. Remove from oven. Sprinlke with 1 tablespoon basil. Let stand 5 minutes.
• Above is the recipe as printed in Cooking Light Magazine. I modified it as bit as follows, with excellent results: I used 12 noodles and made three layers. I used dry basil. I omitted garlic.

Steps:

• Slice off and discard ends of tomatoes; cut tomatoes into 1/2-inch/1cm thick slices. Stir together ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, egg, pinch of the salt and pepper and nutmeg.
• Spread about one-quarter of the oil on bottom of 13-x9-inch/3L baking dish. Lay 3 (or 4) noodles in a single layer, covering bottom; top with single layer of the tomato slices. Sprinkle with generous pinch of salt, half the garlic and half the basil; drizzle with one-third the remaining oil and spread half of the ricotta mixture on top. Repeat once with noodles, tomato slices, salt, garlic, basil, oil and ricotta mixture. Top with remaining noodles, tomato slices and oil; sprinkle with pepper to taste and mozzarella cheese, then drizzle wine (or water and lemon juice) over top. Cover with foil pierced with several vents.
• Bake in 400 degree F oven until tomatoes are roasted and the noodles are tender, about 1 hour. If there is more than about 1/4 cup liquid in pan, uncover and bake until liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.