eluruguayo
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So yeah, if you like making lasagna but don't want noodles, here's the secret.
* Make the "red" part of the lasagna the usual way. I like to brown some meat, then cook down 2 lbs of spinach and mushrooms, and then throw in a jar of tomato puree, but you can pretty much do whatever.
* Use cottage cheese instead of ricotta.
And here's what's different:
* Instead of noodles, use mozzarella slices, and "build" the lasagna one layer at a time.
Steps:
1/ Cover the bottom of the pan with the red mix.
2/ Add a layer of mozzarella slices.
3/ Stick in the oven at 400ºF UNTIL THE CHEESE STARTS TO BROWN AROUND THE EDGES. This takes some precision, you may f*** it up the first time you try. Too short and it'll devolve into one giant (but still delicious) mess; too long and it'll get hard/burnt and difficult to eat. In my experience it's about 15 minutes here.
Then...
4/ Add a layer of cottage cheese on top of the "mozzarella noodles"
5/ Add more red stuff
6/ Add another layer of mozzarella slices
7/ Repeat step 3.
If you have a particularly deep lasagna pan, or if you have 3-4 lbs of meat and spinach to cook because it expires tomorrow, then repeat steps 4-7 again.
It's awesome. If you get the timing just right, the mozzarella winds up serving as a perfect "noodle". That tastes like mozzarella. Mmm.
This concoction also has a surprisingly low food energy content. It can be less than 1 cal/gram of finished product, particularly if you use (i) nonfat cottage cheese, (ii) ground turkey breast, (iii) canned tomato puree (which has no oil) instead of sauce in a jar, and (iv) a high ratio of spinach/mushrooms to meat in the red part.
Try it.
* Make the "red" part of the lasagna the usual way. I like to brown some meat, then cook down 2 lbs of spinach and mushrooms, and then throw in a jar of tomato puree, but you can pretty much do whatever.
* Use cottage cheese instead of ricotta.
And here's what's different:
* Instead of noodles, use mozzarella slices, and "build" the lasagna one layer at a time.
Steps:
1/ Cover the bottom of the pan with the red mix.
2/ Add a layer of mozzarella slices.
3/ Stick in the oven at 400ºF UNTIL THE CHEESE STARTS TO BROWN AROUND THE EDGES. This takes some precision, you may f*** it up the first time you try. Too short and it'll devolve into one giant (but still delicious) mess; too long and it'll get hard/burnt and difficult to eat. In my experience it's about 15 minutes here.
Then...
4/ Add a layer of cottage cheese on top of the "mozzarella noodles"
5/ Add more red stuff
6/ Add another layer of mozzarella slices
7/ Repeat step 3.
If you have a particularly deep lasagna pan, or if you have 3-4 lbs of meat and spinach to cook because it expires tomorrow, then repeat steps 4-7 again.
It's awesome. If you get the timing just right, the mozzarella winds up serving as a perfect "noodle". That tastes like mozzarella. Mmm.
This concoction also has a surprisingly low food energy content. It can be less than 1 cal/gram of finished product, particularly if you use (i) nonfat cottage cheese, (ii) ground turkey breast, (iii) canned tomato puree (which has no oil) instead of sauce in a jar, and (iv) a high ratio of spinach/mushrooms to meat in the red part.
Try it.
