Lasagne

Inkara1 said:
Oh, I use plenty of cheese, don't owrry about that... I just don't like to put it on top because then it sticks to the foil and I end up with less cheese.

Why cover with foil? that crispy layer of cheese on top is one of the best parts :licklips:
 
Um .... I put a load of sauce on top to stop the top layer of pasta from going hard. Then, once that's baked down almost dry, I add the top layer of cheese.


But honestly, mine's fully cooked before it goes in the oven. If you worked fast enough with the meat and pasta still hot, you'd only need 15 minutes to finish melting the top layer of cheese.
 
Re: eggplant risotto recipe for Les

Oven-baked Eggplant Risotto

You will need:
2 medium-large eggplants
250 ml (1 cup) frying oil (if deep-frying in a pan)
750 ml (3 cups) light stock
30 ml (2 tablespoons) olive oil
30 g butter, plus extra for greasing pan
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
400 g can italian tomatoes mashed
2 tablespoons finely chopped basil (or other herbs of choice)
salt & pepper
1 cup well packed arborio rice (or other italian rice)
125 ml dry white wine
50 g (1/2 cup) grated parmesan
150 g mozzarella (in whey), drained and cubed

  1. Prep the eggplant. You can either fry the shit out of it, or oven-bake it as I do which makes it less greasy. I cut the eggplant into 1 cm slices and brush both sides with oil, then I bake both sides until slightly browned (approx 20 minutes at 180C).
  2. Make the risotto next. Bring stock to a simmer, then set heat on a very low setting so stock does not boil and evaporate. Make your tomato sauce. Put the olive oil, and a little butter in a sauce-pan, and lightly saute the garlic and onions until a pale golden colour. Tip in the mashed tomatoes and add the basil, and salt & pepper to taste. I also like to add chillies and rosemary, but that's optional. Red wine is also good. You want to cook the sauce on a medium-low heat for about 15 minutes - the sauce should still be on the watery side. Half the sauce, and put one half aside in a bowl.
  3. Add the italian rice to the pan with the other half of the sauce. Increase temperature to medium-high and stir for 2-3 minutes until the sauce moisture has evaporated off, and the tomato-rice mixture is sticking to the pan. Add the white wine and stir until wine has mostly evaporated. Add the stock incrementally, approx 1/4-1/8 cup at a time, making sure that you evaporate off the stock before adding the next lot of stock. You want to 3/4 cook the rice so that it is still a little chalky once all the stock has been used.
  4. layer the ingredients into a greased oven-proof dish (16-18cm in diameter, and 8-9cm deep) in this order: rice, parmesan cheese, eggplant slices, tomato mixture, and mozzerella (or any other melting cheese of choice). Finish with a top layer of rice and parmesan cheese. (The dish can be prepared ahead of time to this point, refrigerated, then cooked when required, but it must be brought to room temp before cooking.)
  5. Dot the top with butter and bake in a preheated oven (200C) for about 15-20 minutes until it is crisp on top and heated through. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Serves 4.
 
Re: eggplant risotto recipe for Les

ooooooooooh that's for dinner this weekend!!!

Thanks!
 
Mine is made without ricotta or cottage cheese as both remind me of maggots. Granted, it's not what most people would consider lasagna, but since when do I give a damn about most people anyway?

I also had a recipe for a TexMex lasagna, made with tortillas, fried onions, meat, cheeses, sauce, and some other stuff. It burned up in the house. Dammit.
 
Mine is made without ricotta or cottage cheese as both remind me of maggots.
omfg. you've in one post ruined my lasagna eating experience forevermore

GAHH! :crying3:
 
You know, my recipe doesn't call for ricotta or cottage cheese, either. You don't even have to use no-boil noodles with mine; just reduce the cans of spaghetti sauce from three to two if you use boil-first noodles.
 
Inkara1 said:
You know, my recipe doesn't call for ricotta or cottage cheese, either. You don't even have to use no-boil noodles with mine; just reduce the cans of spaghetti sauce from three to two if you use boil-first noodles.
Yours is just easy enough to have it be a midweek or lazy saturday meal.
 
It's less "lazy" and more "cheap"... or, it was back when you could get a pound of 70/30 ground beef for a buck and when cheese wasn't ass-raping expensive and when it was easy to find a can of spaghetti sauce for a buck or less each... my mom used to be able to put together one of those lasagnas for under $6.
 
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