Wednesday Potluck: Lasagna

Back in the 1990s, I worked for The Olive Garden, almost straight out of high school. It was an edumacational experience, and I've since acquired the opinion that everyone should work in food service at some point in their lives.

My job at the OG started in the dish pit, washing away LOTS of leftover salad and breadsticks, and ended up as a backup line cook. Along the way, I spent at least a few months making about 20 lasagnas per day. That was my job: lasagna cook.

So as you can imagine, I have some "issues" with cooking laza. Namely that I have a hard time going slowly, or changing up the recipe, or resisting writing the time at which the dish went into the oven in a fat black marker on top the aluminum foil.

But I persevere - and last night was no exception. The laza was delish, partly because I used a homemade meat sauce that Sarah made a few weeks ago (and froze). It was paired with two greens salads, some sauteed cabbage and a loaf of bread. All yummy.

And afterwards, I got some architectural pointers from my neighbor Jeff about rebuilding the deck in the backyard - Spring plans.

• Cook 10-11 whole-wheat lasa noodles in water until almost done. Don't overcook.
• Have thick, hearty meat sauce on hand. To make from scratch, cook a pound of ground meat in a full jar (~26 oz) of marinara sauce.
• Combine 2 eggs, 15 oz cottage cheese (or ricotta), a half-cup grated parmesan, some salt and pepper, and a half-cup fresh-chopped parsley. Mix until well blended.
• Grate a full little block of mozzarella cheese, like about 8 oz.
• Sautee some veggies to liven up the dish. For last night, I used half an onion, one small chopped carrot, a stick of celery, a zucchini, and a handful of chopped crimini mushrooms, added to some olive oil, in that order so they all cook different times. Don't overcook them because they are going to cook a bit in the laza. You could add some spinach leaves, asparagus, summer squash, finely-chopped greens (collard, kale, chard) or whatever you have on hand. Don't make too much of this stuff though. When it's all cooked down, it should be maybe 3 cups max.
• Spread a cup of plain marinara or watered-down sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 dish. Don't grease it.
• Lay down three laza noodles, some cottage cheese paste, some grated mozz, some sauce, then another 3 laza noodels, the same ingredients, then the sauteed veggies mixture. Top with the last 3 noodles, the last of the sauce, the last of the mozz cheese, and grate some more parmesan on top.
• Cover with foil and cook at 375 for about 45 mins. Let it sit for AT LEAST 10 minutes before cutting. The longer it sits out of the oven, the better it will be.