October 31, 2010

Lasagna in loaf pans

A few weeks ago my Pyrex 13×9 inch glass dish shattered on top of my stove. I had cooked something on the burner and I knew the burner was hot, but I figured you could bake something in the glass dish, so it could withstand any heat leftover….but I was wrong. After a minute on top of the stove it completely shattered!

So when I was thinking about making lasagna, I remembered I didn’t have a pan to bake it in anymore, and then remembered my sister makes her spaghetti squash lasagna in a loaf pan. So that’s where I began.

Spray 2 bread loaf pans with Pam Cooking spray.

Into a blender, add 2 medium tomatoes, 1 red pepper (top and seeds removed) 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 small onion and 2 tsp. oregano, 2 tsp. basil and salt and pepper, 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional) 1/2 cup ricotta cheese and blend until smooth.

In a skillet, cook 2 links of Italian sausage (casing removed) and as soon as it’s cooked (about 5 minutes) add the tomato sauce from the blender. Cook on low for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

I used the no-bake noodles, like this:

In a medium bowl add the ricotta cheese (I used low fat 15 oz. container) and 1 egg and stir until well combined.

Now you are ready to make the layers.

Start with a ladle of sauce on the bottom of each loaf pan.

Then add one sheet of the uncooked lasagna noodle, a little of the ricotta cheese, and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. Keep going until you are out of lasagna noodles. Each package of had 12 sheets, so each loaf pan had 6 layers.

Here’s what it looks like before going into the oven.

Cover both loaf pans with foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove the foil. COOKS TIP: TAKE THE PANS OUT OF THE OVEN FIRST TO REMOVE THE FOIL OR ELSE THIS CAN HAPPEN:

WTF? Normally I probably would have cried at this point. But, it’s a new stove, so the inside is still pretty clean. I scooped what I could and put it back in the loaf pan, covered that with more cheese and you continue baking them for another 15 minutes. Let it cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.