Best Almost Lasagna Rachael Ray Recipes

ALMOST LASAGNA - RACHAEL RAY

Steps:

• Heat a large pot of water to boil for pasta. Salt water and cook pasta to al dente. Heads up: you will need a ladle of the starchy cooking water to help form sauce before draining.
• Heat a deep nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan. Add the meat and break it up into small bits as it caramelizes. Once meat has good color to it, 4 to 5 minutes, add garlic, onions and red pepper flakes and season with salt, pepper, allspice and Worcestershire sauce. Cook another 5 minutes, deglaze the meat and onions with red wine, cook off a minute, then combine about 1/2 cup of stock into the meat. Stir in the tomatoes and bring to a bubble. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 5 minutes.
• Place ricotta cheese in the bottom of a shallow bowl. Add a ladleful of boiling, starchy pasta water to the ricotta and stir to combine. Add a couple of handfuls of grated Parmesan to the ricotta and mix it inches.
• Drain pasta. Toss hot pasta with cheeses. Add half the thick meat sauce to the pasta bowl and combine. Tear or shred the basil and add to the meat and pasta, toss again. Taste to adjust salt and pepper. Serve bowlfuls of Not-sagna with extra sauce on top and more grated Parmesan to pass at the table.

MOM'S LASAGNA

Steps:

• In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat olive oil over medium heat
• Add the onion garlic and a three-finger pinch of salt and sweat them until they are translucent, about 2 minutes
• Add the neck bones and brown, about 5 minutes
• Add the ground veal, beef and sausage, season with another healthy pinch of salt and continue cooking until the meat is browned, about 10 minutes
• Add the white wine, tomatoes and their juice, and the bay leaves, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to get all of the browned bits into the sauce
• Season the sauce with salt and simmer for 2 hours over medium heat
• Remove the bay leaves and neck bones and let cool
• Skim any fat that rises to the surface
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil
• Add enough salt so that it tastes seasoned and allow the water to return to a boil
• Add the noodles and cook until al dente
• Drain well and set aside
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, parsley, basil, oregano and eggs with a pinch of salt
• Preheat the oven to 350°F
• Ladle about 1 cup of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13-inch lasagna pan
• Arrange a layer of noodles over followed by a layer of sauce and then some ricotta mixture, smoothing it with a spatula to the edges of the noodles
• Repeat the process until the pan is full and finishing with a final layer of noodles, sauce, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese
• Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour
• Uncover and bake for 30 minutes to brown and bubbly on top
• Remove from oven and let cool slightly before cutting and serving
• MORE: Lasagna Burgers Jeanette's Holiday Lasagna Lasagna with Meat Ragu

SLOPPY LASAGNA

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium heat. Break all of the pasta sheets into irregular, larger than single bite-sized pieces. Salt the water, then add the pasta and cook to a little shy of al dente. Drain and set aside in a large bowl.
• Heat the extra-virgin olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot or large skillet over medium heat. Add the meat, press it into an even layer and brown it for 3 to 4 minutes before moving. Turn the meat and add the onions and grated carrot. Stir and cook a few minutes to soften, then add the garlic, bay leaves, salt and pepper, to taste, and the cinnamon. Cook for a couple of minutes, then stir in the tomato paste, wait for 1 minute then add the wine. Reduce for a minute more, then add the tomatoes, breaking them up as you stir. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the basil.
• While the sauce simmers, in a medium sauce pot, melt the butter over medium heat and whisk in the flour. Cook for 1 minute, then whisk in the milk and nutmeg, and season with salt, pepper, to taste. Let cook for a couple of minutes to thicken, then stir in 1/2 cup of the grated cheese and turn off the heat.
• Heat a broiler.
• Add the meat sauce to the bowl with the pasta and toss. Layer half of the pasta into a lasagna pan and scatter with dollops of fresh ricotta cheese. Top with remaining pasta. Pour the white sauce over the pasta and scatter the remaining 1 cup of the grated cheese over the top. Put under the broiler to brown and bubble. Remove from the broiler and serve.

MEXICAN LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil - twice around the pan. Add chicken and season with chili powder, cumin, and red onion. Brown the meat, 5 minutes. Add taco sauce or stewed or fire roasted tomatoes. Add black beans and corn. Heat the mixture through, 2 to 3 minutes then season with salt, to your taste.
• Coat a shallow baking dish with remaining extra-virgin olive oil, about 1 tablespoon oil. Cut the tortillas in half or quarters to make them easy to layer with. Build lasagna in layers of meat and beans, then tortillas, then cheese. Repeat: meat, tortilla, cheese again. Bake lasagna 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly. Top with the scallions and serve.

PUMPKIN LOVERS LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Bring a few inches water to a boil in a large pot and add salt. Cook the escarole for 5 minutes, then drain.
• Cover the garlic cloves with water in a saucepan and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain and let cool. Squish the garlic pulp from the jackets into a bowl and mash with a fork.
• Meanwhile, melt 3 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the sage and stir. Add the squash, stir and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken stock and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. All the stock should be absorbed and the squash should be lightly browned and tender. Remove from the heat.
• Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter in another medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and mashed garlic and season with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg. Cook until slightly thickened (the sauce should just coat the back of the spoon evenly without breaking up on the spoon's surface).
• Whisk together the pumpkin puree, 2 eggs and some salt and pepper in a small bowl.
• In another bowl, whisk together the ricotta, half the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the remaining egg.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Soak the lasagna sheets in water for 5 minutes.
• Pour about half the garlic sauce into the bottom of a 9 by 11-inch baking dish. Add a layer of lasagna sheets and then half the pumpkin mixture. Make another layer of lasagna sheets and spread with all of the ricotta mixture, followed by the squash and then escarole. Top with half the Fontina, another layer of lasagna sheets, the remaining pumpkin and another layer of lasagna sheets. Finish with the remaining garlic sauce and sprinkle with the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano and Fontina.
• Bake the lasagna, covered, for 45 minutes. Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees F and continue to bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes more. Let rest for 15 minutes, then cut and serve.

LASAGNA WITH ROASTED EGGPLANT-RICOTTA FILLING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Place the cherry tomatoes on a large baking sheet along with the thyme, oregano and garlic. Dress with 2 tablespoons of the EVOO, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Roast until the tomatoes burst, 35 to 45 minutes
• Brush the eggplant with the remaining 2 tablespoons EVOO and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place cut-side down on a baking sheet and roast alongside the tomatoes until soft, 30 to 40 minutes.
• Let the tomatoes cool slightly, and then puree them with the basil in a food processor until smooth. Remove the skins from the garlic and puree the sauce with the roasted cloves before transferring the sauce to a bowl.
• When the eggplant has cooled, spoon out the flesh and add it into the cleaned bowl of the food processor along with the ricotta, Parmigiano-Reggiano, egg yolks and some salt and pepper. Puree the mixture until smooth and season with more salt and pepper.
• Ladle one-third of the tomato sauce into the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish. Layer pasta sheets on top, followed by one-half of the eggplant, more pasta sheets, tomato sauce and 1/2 of the mozzarella. Repeat with another layer of pasta sheets, followed by the remaining eggplant, more pasta sheets and the remaining tomato sauce. Top the lasagna with the remaining mozzarella. Bake 1 hour. Let cool 20 minutes before serving.

TWO SAUCE WEEKNIGHT LASAGNA BOWLS

Steps:

• Heat large pot of water to a boil, salt water and cook pasta to al dente.
• While pasta water comes to a boil, heat olive oil in a medium sauce pot over medium-high heat, add pancetta and render 2 to 3 minutes then add meat and break up as it browns. When the meat has begun to caramelize and develops a nice brown color, 4 to 5 minutes, add carrot, onion, 2 cloves of garlic, allspice, salt and pepper and a bay leaf. Cook 3 to 4 minutes more to soften onions and carrots bits then stir in tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, then stir in wine and cook out 1 minute then stir in stock and reduce heat to simmer.
• While red sauce cooks, cut remaining whole clove of garlic and rub the inside of a medium sauce pot with it. Melt butter in pot over medium heat. Add in flour and whisk together a minute or so then whisk in milk and bring to a bubble, reduce heat then season sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg, thicken 8 to 10 minutes.
• Toss pasta with white sauce and 1/2 cup grated cheese. Serve pasta in individual bowls and top with a ladle of meat sauce in the middle of the bowl for mixing in. Garnish with parsley.