Lasagna

The Littlest member of our family helped put this one together as a welcome home for a Dad coming home from a business trip. Kids love getting their hands dirty. Once you have everything organized its super easy for them to help layer.  Whatever veggies you have in the fridge like zucchini or mushrooms can be sautéed simply then added as a layer.  

Lasagna
Serves 6-8
 
3-4 cups of tomato sauce or Bolognese
1 package of no cook lasagna noodles
16 ounces whole milk ricotta
1 egg
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt plus 1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup julienned fresh basil
1 ½ cup grated mozzarella cheese
½ cup finely grated parmasean cheese
1 bunch of Russian kale or swiss chard
 
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and then lightly coat a 9x13 baking dish with olive oil. Set aside.  Boil a small pot of water with 1 teaspoon salt. Rip kale or chard from stems and blanch in boiling water for one minute. Strain and pat dry, then roughly chop and set aside. In a small bowl add ricotta, egg, nutmeg, garlic powder, the rest of the salt, pepper and basil. Mix well and set aside.
 
In baking dish, ladle enough sauce to coat the bottom and cover with uncooked noodles.  Spread about one third of the ricotta mixture on top of noodles, then sauce to cover lightly. Sprinkle ½ cup mozzarella then cover with another layer of noodles. Repeat with another third of the ricotta, then add the chopped kale or chard. Top with sauce and a sprinkle of cheese. Repeat with noodles, ricotta, sauce and cheese until you run out of noodles, you should get about 3-4 layers. On top layer of noodle, pour on whatever sauce is left, make sure the lasagna is on the saucier side as you need the extra sauce to keep the noodles from drying out. Top with parmesean cheese and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for about 40 minutes until noodles are soft and sauce is bubbling. Remove foil and cook another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
 


Marinara Sauce
To use for pizza, pasta, or lasagna
 
1 large brown onion
4 cloves garlic
6-8 medium carrots, peeled
3-4 stalks celery
1 large bulb of fennel
8-10 leaves of fresh basil, torn
2 teaspoons dried oregano or 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, diced fine
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons capers
1 teaspoon anchovy paste
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 boxes diced tomatoes
2 box pureed tomatoes
½ cup olive oil
 
Warm olive oil in saute pan. In food processor, blend onions and garlic. Add to saute pan with oil and cook on medium heat. While onions are cooking, add carrots, celery and fennel to food processor and blend. Once onions are translucent, add other vegetable and continue sautéing. Sprinkle with salt. Add basil, oregano, fennel seeds, and thyme to vegetables. Once everything is tender, add capers, anchovy paste and pepper. Stir. Add in tomatoes and vinegar and simmer on medium low heat for about one hour. Adjust seasoning.