Outstanding Lasagna Without Pre-Boiling Regular Noodles
"This tastes fabulous! Uses a mix of turkey sausage & ground beef, and plain old regular style lasagna noodles that you do not have to pre-boil. Just follow the directions as it will take more liquid and cooking time. Choose your favorite sauce, and throw in green peppers while cooking the meat if you like them. Yes the cooking time is longer, but wouldn't you rather let it cook by itself while you do something else, rather than have to boil those noodles, then try to dry them, etc? Yeah, me too! Enjoy!"
photo by pammyowl
- Ready In:
- 3hrs
- Ingredients:
- 17
- Yields:
-
1 pan
- Serves:
- 5-6
ingredients
- 1 box regular lasagna noodle
- 1⁄2 lb Italian sausage (I use turkey)
- 1⁄2 lb ground sirloin
- 1 (52 ounce) can spaghetti sauce (keep the can for adding water)
- 1⁄2 chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 (16 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1⁄2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1⁄2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1⁄2 cup grated romano cheese
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh basil
- 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
directions
- Important: do NOT pre-boil the noodles! Brown chopped onion, sausage and ground beef in small amount of olive oil. When almost browned, add minced garlic so it won't burn. Drain, put in large bowl, mix in with spaghetti sauce, salt & red pepper flakes. Set aside. Get another large bowl; mix in ricotta cheese, egg, ½ C each mozerella, parmesean and romano cheeses, parsley, basil. In 13x9 pan, put 1C of the red sauce in the bottom. Add approximately 3 ½ of the noodles, arrange 3 lengthwise, leaving space between them to allow them to absorb liquid and expand, and add a piece at the end of the pan since they are not long enough to cover the entire length. Take approximately ½ of the white cheese mix, drop by spoonfuls over the noodles and spread around a little. (doesn’t need to cover everything or be perfect!) Then add 1C mozzarella cheese. Repeat this entire layer, using approximately ½ of the remaining red sauce, same amount of noodles and white mix, and another Cup of the mozzarella. Add the remaining red sauce, then 1C of parmesean cheese to top it off. Take the sauce can, fill it halfway with water, then slowly pour over the dish all over, so the liquid will rise up to about half full in the pan. This will all get absorbed by the noodles, because you didn’t pre-boil them. Tightly cover with foil. Bake at 325 F for 2 hours. Then uncover, raise the temp to 350 F and bake another 15-30 minutes until the cheese is golden on top and the edges are pulling away from the pan. Remove from the oven, and let it sit for 10-15 minutes or until all the liquid has set up and the dish is firm.
Questions & Replies
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Can this recipe be prepared a day ahead? -
I made a half recipe last night (8x8 pan instead of 9x13). The original recipe called for a 52 oz. can of spaghetti sauce. I cut the amount in half, but with the added water, this was WAY too much liquid. Are you sure you didn't mean a "25" oz. can of spaghetti sauce? That's closer to a standard size jar of sauce.
Reviews
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This was very good. I have often made lasagna with uncooked noodles, but have never added water before. Worked very well. I suppose the extra long cooking time helped as well! Thanks for posting! Made for Spring PAC2013 -
Excellent recipe! I like my lasagna al dente and I didn't have foil, so I baked it 1 hour. The texture was perfect for me and the top was crunchy (My son ate off the top layer when no one was watching). Thanks!
