|
For the sauce, I started with a mirepoix (those of you lazy like me will be thrilled with the new Trader Joe's pre-chopped mirepoix in the produce area!). Once the onions, celery and carrots were carmelized (about 25 minutes) in the olive oil, I added heirloom tomatoes from the farmer's market. I cooked until the whole thing was soupy, then added about 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Let it simmer a bit, then added a cup of wine (shiraz is what I had on hand). Addded 6 cloves of minced garlic and about a tsp of salt at this point too.Cooked it down until I figured most of the alcohol had evaporated, then blended it all with my hand blender. Added a pound of browned ground beef and some heavy cream and left it simmering while I tackled the ricotta mixture.
The ricotta mixture was pretty standard, but I used fresh, locally produced, hand-scooped ricotta this time. It even came in a groovy metal container. Two eggs, a cup of parmesan, a bunch of fresh ground pepper and some fresh parsley rounded it out.
This was kind of a "use-up-what-I-have-in-the-kitchen" kind of meal, and since I was low on mozzarella, I replaced the middle layer of mozzarella with about 6 slices of provolone. Speaking of mozzarella - I have turned away from using the fresh stuff as it tends to add to the soupiness of the lasagna. I used the generic organic Trader Joe's shredded kind on top of the lasagna, and added some parmesan on top as well.
That's about it. I used Barilla no-boil lasagna.
That's about it. The sauce was incredibly tasty, the ricotta was smooth and delicious, and for once the lasagna wasn't too soupy. I just ate some of the leftovers for lunch....and couldn't even wait til noon to get to it.
|