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(note: unless you use egg-free noodles, this is lacto-ovo)
I don't use recipes much, but this is the general flow for
making a killer veggie lasagne (last time I made it, it
killed four guests :-) Following it is a receipe for Killer
Garlic Bread.
Killer Lasagne:
First, The Sauce:
1 medium onion, diced
6-10 cloves of garlic, peeled, smashed, and minced
1 small green pepper, without the seeds, chopped
2 lg. cans tomato sauce
Olive oil
Mushrooms, chopped
2 small zuchinni, grated coarse
red wine to taste
spices
Sautee onion, pepper, and garlic in olive oil until soft, then add
tomato sauce. Add marjoram, basil, parsley, savory, black pepper,
bay leaf, oregano, and nutmeg the way grandma cooked ("just enough of each!").
Let simmer on low. Add mushrooms and zuchinni. (nutmeg is the
secret ingredient in really good tomato sauces).
Sometimes I'll also drain, rinse, and chop a can of straw mushrooms
and add them into this.
(If my guests are daring, I add a tablespoon of Busha Brown's Jerk
Sauce, or some cumin, or Hell Sauce (scotch bonnet pepper sauce) for
flavor.) A splash of red wine adds nicely to the flavor; pour the rest
into the cook and the helpers.
I call this my 15 minute spaghetti sauce. If I'm
using it directly on pasta I add some parmesagen, but we won't
need that in the lasagne.
Next, The Preparation:
We'll use a large, rectangular baking
dish for this. Preheat the oven to 400. Ingredients:
1 package (16 oz.) lasagne noodles, uncooked
1 low-fat mozzarella (1 lb.?), sliced thin
1 lb. monterey jack, sliced thin
2 med. or 4 sm. zuchinni, sliced thin lengthwise
1 container lowfat riccotta cheese
16 oz. lowfat cottage cheese
2 packages frozen chopped spinach
grated parmesagen
The Sauce (above)
Defrost the spinach (microwave), and squeeze out all excess water.
In a bowl mix the spinach, ricotta, and cottage cheese. If there are
any left over straw mushrooms, chop them and add to this mixture.
Cover the bottom of the baking pan with a thin layer of sauce.
Add a layer of (uncooked!) noodles. Cover with a layer (half) of the
cheese/spinach mixture, a layer of zuchinni, and a layer of mozzarella.
Sprinkle with parmesagen. Add another layer of sauce, then noodles,
then the rest of the spinach/cheese, then zuchinni, then jack cheese,
and sprinkle more parmesagen; then another layer of noodles,the last of
the sauce, more parmesagen, and a couple of decorative slices of
cheese. (If the sauce starts to run low, just pour another can of
tomato sauce into the sauce pot midway).
Cover with foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes; remove the
foil, bake another 10 minutes; the let cool for ten minutes, slice
and serve! Serves about 10 people (it is pretty heavy...).
Killer Garlic Bread:
Peel, smash, and mince two heads (this is not
a typo!) of garlic.
Melt two sticks of margarine or butter.
Mix the garlic, an equal measure of grated
parmesagen, and half as much "Italian Spice Mix" in with
the margarine. Split two loaves of sourdough french bread
lengthwise; cover all four halves with the vampire-repellant
paste. Place on foil, and broil until brown (watch that they don't
burn!) while the lasagne cools. Slice and serve.
This garlic bread repels vampires, insurance
salesmen, and door-to-door religious types. The only drawback
is that your clothing smells like garlic for about two weeks :-)
Enjoy!
chas/
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Lasagna