Making Lasagna w/ Meat Sauce: Part III - Making The Lasagna Heres what youll need: * 1x huge pot* to cook noodles without having to break them) * 1x strainer** * 1x 13 x 9 Pyrex dish*** * Aluminum Foil * 5-7 Tbsp. salt * 1/3 cup Vegetable or Corn Oil (preferably Olive Oil) * 1 lb. (16 oz.) box of Lasagna Noodles (I used Ronzoni no. 80) * 2 lbs. (32 oz) Ricotta Cheese (I used Polly-O) * 2-3 lbs. (32-48 oz) Mozzarella Cheese (used 2x Sargento Mozzarella 16 oz blocks) * Meat Sauce (cooked in previous directions) First, fill the pot for the noodles up with enough water to cover them. Add oil and salt, and put on high heat. Once the water starts to boil, add noodles. Stir every 4-5 minutes. You may not need the entire box--the box I had came with 18 noodles. You will only need about 12 (depending on size of Pyrex dish). You can cook the noodles al dente (firm) or long enough to be soft. Add a broken piece of noodle to the pot when adding the rest of the noodles so you can test it. While the noodles are cooking, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Once the noodles are done, drain all water and dump them in the strainer. The reason for adding oil is to keep the noodles from sticking together--because once they cool, they will stick together and tear when trying to pull them apart. You can choose to lay each noodle along the sides of the strainer to make your life easier. As you can see, I didnt do that. Now is the time to make the layers for the lasagna. Start by making a bottom layer of meat sauce. Use a third of your meat sauce for the bottom layer. Spread the meat sauce so that it covers the entire bottom of the dish. Next, add your noodles. Start with the outer edges first. It should be about 4 noodles wide. For the remaining space, take one noodle and cut it in 4 and fill in the remaining space. Your first layer is done. For the second layer, add Ricotta cheese. Use about a little less than half of the tub. Spread it over the noodles. Then, add the mozzarella cheese on top of the Ricotta. I cut them into smaller pieces so I can spread it along the entire layer. Finally, add another third of your meat sauce and spread that over the cheese. Add another layer of noodles over this, repeating the same steps in the aforementioned paragraph. For the top layer, follow the same directions in the previous paragraph, but do not add a top layer of noodles (unless you want to, but dont). As a side note, I used more meat at the bottom, causing me to not have enough for the top layer, so I just poured Ragu in to cover it. Finally, cover it with the remaining mozzarella. Cover the Lasagna with Aluminum foil, and place in the oven. Cook for 40-45 minutes. Remove the foil, and cook for another 10-15 minutes (or until the cheese at the top becomes golden brownish). Remove from oven and let cool off for 20 to 30 minutes.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 01:55:41 +0000
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