DINNER GUESTS - LASAGNE

Let me start off by saying I am a good cook. Lol. I really am. I have been told this many times. I have honed my culinary chops over many years of being at home and having the time to seek out great foods, ideas and recipes. I don't follow recipes to the letter very often. I cook by method and feel and taste. 
We used to have guests over for dinner most weekends. Now that I work full time we have less time and energy to entertain as often but we try to as much as possible providing the BB Guy isn't at the cabin. No one ever declines. One of the biggest compliments is that the 16 year old son of our guests last night will never say no to a meal here. 

 The menu last night started with home made guacamole and home made salsa (canned last summer - recipe link in this post) and tortilla chips appetizer. 

 For a printable recipe CLICK HERE

 To make my guacamole I start with: 

1. 2 large ripe avocadoes
2. 1/4 cup chopped red onion
3. half of a tomato with the seeds and liquid squeezed out, chopped
4.  1 large jalapeno pepper, minced
5. 1/4 cup minced cilantro
6. juice from half a lime or lemon. Lime would be best. 
7. teaspoon of cumin 
8. pinch of salt and a big pinch of pepper. 

 Prep everything before you cut open the avocados. 

Once the rest is ready then you can cut the avocados in half. 

 Remove the pits but save one of them* and mash up the avocados. Mix in everything else. Taste and adjust seasonings. 

 It will taste great now but just see how much better it gets when you let it sit and blend the flavors for a while. Mmmm good. 

Now take that pit from the avocado and smoosh it down into the guacamole and it will keep the avocados from going dark. Yup it really works.

 A huge tossed salad. 

No recipe needed here. Just get some mixed greens. Prewashed makes it super easy and I just heard that these have less bacteria in them than if we rewash them at home where we introduce bacteria to the greens from our home. Works for me. 

 I added in orange peppers, grape tomatoes, chopped shallots, cucumber, dried cranberries and some goat cheese.

 

 The shallots were pretty big. I didn't put garlic in the salad, I just am showing the size comparison. 

Then comes the Lasagne a'la Lori. My BB Guy said that this was the best lasagne that he has ever tasted.

 One day I will figure out how to take proper pictures with decent colors. In the mean time I will cook up delectable food to photograph. 

 

I always forget to put out all the ingredients for the photos too. You will see what is added as we go along. 

 Take some lean ground beef and some hot Italian sausage and plop them into the frypan to brown. Smoosh it up really well with a wooden spoon. If you don't have one go out and buy one. Ha. Just checking if you are paying attention. Any utensil will do as long as you break the meat into small crumbles. 

 

I usually use the hot Italian sausage from Costco but I didn't have time so I used Johnsonville's from the grocery store. Although it tastes good there was a large amount of grease that came out of it. I was using lean beef so I know most of it was from the sausage. Drain it all off. Icky fat. We will get enough yummy fat later in the recipe. 

 

Once you drain the fat add in a chopped onion. Make it as fine a chop as you like. We like it in big pieces. Stir it up and then add the spices. Don't scrimp here. This is a BIG pan of lasagne and you will want to taste the seasonings or what is the point.

I add in close to a 1/4 cup of oregano and basil. About 3 tablespoons of chopped garlic. I used dried garlic that we just picked up in Gilroy on our vaction. A good shake of an Italian spice mix, a couple spoonfuls of hot pepper flakes, black pepper. No salt. Give it a stir with your newly purchased wooden spoon...still with me? 

 

Add in a  very large container of spaghetti sauce. Something you like with not too much salt. Home made? Even better. Save about 2 cups in the jar and add a little water to the jar. Maybe half to three quarters of a cup. Shake it up to get all the sauce out of the jar and pour it over the bottom of the pan. I spray my pan with non stick spray first. Simmer the sauce for about 5 minutes.

 

Because we are using the Express noodles we need this extra water. You can fuss with regular noodles, boiling them in a huge pot but why bother when you can use the Express noodles that don't need to be pre-cooked. They just need a thinner sauce which thickens back up when the noodles cook and absorb some of the liquid. 

Now take a large container of cottage cheese, 1% is fine or higher fat if you want. Add in an egg, about 3/4 of a cup of parmesan cheese some pepper and a large spoonful of grated nutmeg. 

 See that spoonful of sauce on the left. Very important step. Taste your sauce and see what it may need. I had forgotten a very important ingredient. Fennel seeds. The sauce is just not the same without them. I knew right away they were missing as soon as I tasted the sauce.

 

Into the meat sauce they go. About two tablespoons. Now back to the filling. Add in either well drained, thawed spinach or my preference two big handfuls of fresh spinach. You could add well chopped broccoli if you like. 

 Let's build this sucker. Layer some noodles over the thinned sauce in the pan. Oven ready Express noodles require no pre-cooking.

Layer a row of noodles on the thinned sauce from the jar with none of the meat. Top noodles row with row of meat mixture. Top that layer with a layer of noodles again.

Spread over the cottage cheese mixture. Top that with more noodles, then more meat sauce. 

Finally top that layer with lots of mozzarella cheese mixed with some Parmesan. As much as you like but remember that Parmesan is salty. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until cheese is golden brown. I put this pan on a baking sheet because you can get some liquid bubbling over. 
I don't make garlic bread like most people do by mixing butter and garlic then slathering the bread and baking or broiling it. 
I brush my bread with some olive oil and toast it under the broiler. When it is golden I take it out and scrub it vigorously with fresh garlic cloves. It dissolves into the the toasted bread and has such a good fresh garlic taste.
Just one problem. I am broiler/garlic bread challenged and I almost always burn it because I am busy yapping away with our guests. 

 

Okay we all knew I had to have an Achilles heel. So simple and yet so hard....for me.