LASAGNA WITHOUT BOILING NOODLES RECIPES

Steps:

• Important: do NOT pre-boil the noodles! Brown chopped onion, sausage and ground beef in small amount of olive oil. When almost browned, add minced garlic so it won't burn. Drain, put in large bowl, mix in with spaghetti sauce, salt & red pepper flakes. Set aside. Get another large bowl; mix in ricotta cheese, egg, ½ C each mozerella, parmesean and romano cheeses, parsley, basil. In 13x9 pan, put 1C of the red sauce in the bottom. Add approximately 3 ½ of the noodles, arrange 3 lengthwise, leaving space between them to allow them to absorb liquid and expand, and add a piece at the end of the pan since they are not long enough to cover the entire length. Take approximately ½ of the white cheese mix, drop by spoonfuls over the noodles and spread around a little. (doesn’t need to cover everything or be perfect!) Then add 1C mozzarella cheese. Repeat this entire layer, using approximately ½ of the remaining red sauce, same amount of noodles and white mix, and another Cup of the mozzarella. Add the remaining red sauce, then 1C of parmesean cheese to top it off. Take the sauce can, fill it halfway with water, then slowly pour over the dish all over, so the liquid will rise up to about half full in the pan. This will all get absorbed by the noodles, because you didn’t pre-boil them. Tightly cover with foil. Bake at 325 F for 2 hours. Then uncover, raise the temp to 350 F and bake another 15-30 minutes until the cheese is golden on top and the edges are pulling away from the pan. Remove from the oven, and let it sit for 10-15 minutes or until all the liquid has set up and the dish is firm.

Steps:

• Make the sauce: Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add sausage, if using, and cook, stirring occasionally, until it’s starting to brown but not yet crisp, about 5 minutes.
• Add onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is totally softened and translucent (without letting it brown), 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and continue to cook, stirring until the tomato paste has turned a deeper brick red color, tinting the oil and onions a fiery orange color, about 2 minutes.
• Using your hands, crush the whole tomatoes into smaller, bite-size pieces and add them and the crushed tomatoes, stirring to scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pot. Fill one of the tomato cans halfway with water and add it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato sauce has thickened and flavors have come together, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Make the lasagna: Heat oven to 375 degrees and set a large pot of salted water to boil.
• Set aside 1 cup mozzarella. In a medium bowl, combine remaining mozzarella, ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan and cream; season with salt and pepper and set aside.
• Cook lasagna noodles in the large pot of salted boiling water until just softened (before they are even aldente), about 4 minutes. Drain and separate any noodles that are trying to stick together, slicking them with a bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking further.
• Spoon a bit of sauce on the bottom of a 3-quart baking dish and top with a layer of noodles, avoiding any heavy overlap.
• Top with about 1 ¼ cups of sauce, and dollop ¼ of the cheese mixture over. Top with another layer of noodles and repeat three more times, ending with the last of the noodles (depending on size of the noodle/shape of the baking dish, you may have a few extra noodles) and the last of the sauce. Top with reserved 1 cup mozzarella and more Parmesan, if you like.
• Cover loosely with aluminum foil and place baking dish on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet (to prevent any overflow from burning on the bottom of your oven).
• Bake until pasta is completely tender and cooked through and sauce is bubbling up around the edges, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove foil and increase temperature to 450 degrees. Continue to bake until lasagna is golden brown on top with frilly, crispy edges and corners, another 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly before eating.