lasagna & baked ziti for dummies?

[ny biker]

I am not a good cook.

But I would like to try to make some easy pasta dishes. Does anyone have a ridiculously simple recipe for lasagna and baked ziti? When I say simple, I mean like the ingredients would be: pasta, sauce from a jar, cheese. No meat. Even vegetables are not necessary, at least not for my first attempt.

I already have a lasagna pan. I would be cooking for one, so a fair amount of it would be frozen for future use.

Thanks!

[channlluv]

Baked ziti is pretty easy. I like Barilla pastas - they have whole grain now with a nice flavor and texture. I like Trader Joe's Organic Marinara, but if there's not a TJ's near you, I also like Prego Chunky Garden Style sauce.

Boil the ziti according to the box directions - do not overcook it or it will be mushy. Better to be a bit al dente than mushy. Put the cooked ziti in a baking dish and pour the sauce over the top. I like to mix mine all together so the sauce is evenly distributed, and I reserve a bit of sauce to spread on top. I don't bake my ziti with cheese, but when it's good and bubbly hot (about 20 - 30 minutes at 350 degrees), I sprinkle fresh Parmesan cheese on top. Romano is good, too, but get fresh if you can get it (not Kraft). A friend turned me on to non-processed Parmesan and I couldn't believe the difference in flavor.

For lasagna, buy two jars of sauce to one box of lasagna noodles. For my cheese mixture, I use 16oz of Ricotta, two cups of shredded mozzarella, and an egg, and a little garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste. I like to layer mine with thin-sliced zucchini or thawed spinach. You can also use thin-sliced carrots, onion, eggplant, or pretty much any veggie, but you might want to cook the veggies just a bit to make sure they're soft enough - carrots, for instance, may not get tender enough with just baking.

Okay, so you've got your boiled lasagna noodles (mine never stay in one piece, but save your pretty ones for the top layer). You've got your sauce, your cheese mixture, and your veggies if you're using them.

Spread a bit of sauce on the bottom of the pan, then put down a layer of noodles, followed by a layer of the cheese mixture - spoon it out as evenly as you can, then the veggies, then sauce, noodles, cheese, veggies, and so on until you get to the top of your pan. The top layer should be noodles with sauce directly on top, with shredded mozzarella cheese and Parmesan or Romano sprinkled on top. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour at 350, uncovered.

The sauce should be bubbling and the cheese nicely browned and crispy on top.

Good luck!

Roxy

[KnottedYet]

We used to make lasagna with short cuts.

Don't cook the noodles first.
(seriously, they turn out fine!)

Use canned spaghetti sauce.

Haven't made lasagna in a long time, even though I've seen rice lasagna noodles around and they aren't that expensive. One of these days I'll make some again. We used to make squid manicotti, stuffing the squid just like manicotti shells. That was a great gluten-free dinner, and I'd love to make it again, but it's awfully hard to find whole squid mantles these days. They all seem to be cut into rings.

[Trek420]

How to avoid the whole pasta question entirely: I make a mean vegie lasagna, not in a while so no recipe, just the concept in my head.

Take eggplant (the big kind) and slice it reeeeeeeeeeeall thin. Do the usual prep stuff of slicing it, salting (I like to use kosher salt), let it sweat on a cookie sheet or pan-I like to tilt it a little, rinse the eggplant.

You can use other vegies too: thinly sliced yellow squash, paper thin slices of Yukon gold potato .

Brush your vegies with a nice local Sonoma olive oil maybe herbs and garlic, broil them or even grill them if you have a grill nearby.

The rest is the same, layer of sauce, layer of veggies, layer of your favorite ricotta mix (and that for some reason I like a little freshly grated nutmeg mixed in), rinse lather repeat.

[shootingstar]

Don't cook the noodles first.
(seriously, they turn out fine!)

Use canned spaghetti sauce.

Yes, both very true. We (I should say he since he's the one that has made it several times) use presssed tofu for filling mixture. Ours actually doesn't have much cheese (or none). Also uses fresh spinach.

Alas, we haven't had this dish...in several years. But it was good stuff and healthy also.

[Eden]

but it's awfully hard to find whole squid mantles these days. They all seem to be cut into rings.

Uwajimaya! - up in your neck of the woods there's also Ranch 99. Whole squid are popular in Asian cuisine. You can probably get them fresh or frozen. The sushi bar we go to does a killer squid dish where the mantle is stuffed with the tentacles and stewed until it is soooooo tender - yummy.

[7rider]

But I would like to try to make some easy pasta dishes. Does anyone have a ridiculously simple recipe for lasagna and baked ziti? When I say simple, I mean like the ingredients would be: pasta, sauce from a jar, cheese. No meat. Even vegetables are not necessary, at least not for my first attempt.

I already have a lasagna pan. I would be cooking for one, so a fair amount of it would be frozen for future use.

I do pretty much what Roxy does for lasagna. But I use no-boil pasta. I tried pre-soaking them in hot water first for a bit. That worked out okay, but honestly, I never had any issues with the noodles if I put them in dry. I follow the recipe on the back of the box (I think Ronzoni has a good one). Sometimes, I'll throw some sliced mushrooms (pre-cooked or out of a can/jar) and/or chopped spinach on top of the ricotta. I once cut the ricotta amount in half, and substituted with an equal amount of silken tofu (I had some shelf stable blocks and had no idea what to do with it). It came out surprisingly good.

I also use an 8x8 Pyrex (and half any recipe), so DH and I are not over-burdened with lasagna for a week. It's a super easy dish (the longest time is waiting for it to bake) and DH loooves it.

[tulip]

I make amazing lasagne in my crock pot. I make it with spinach, which I mix with the egg, ricotta and some of the mozzerella. Then I layer according to the directions on the pasta box, ending with sauce and mozzerella on top. Do not cook the noodles before--just lay them in there dry.

6-8 hours later (depending on your crock pot), you'll have delicious spinach lasagne, and no oven mess.

[channlluv]

Oh my stars. You mean I don't have to cook the noodles first? Sheesh. That's the reason I don't make it often because cooking those damn noodles is such a hassle! Ha!

I have to try this crockpot lasagna.

Would gluten-free noodles work, do you think? Anyone have a favorite?

Roxy

[tulip]

I just made some with noodles made from Jerusalem artichokes. It was great.

[nscrbug]

X2 on the crockpot lasagna!!! I used a recipe from the Kraft website and tweaked it a bit to my liking. It's very basic - uncooked lasagna noodles, jarred sauce (or use your own), ricotta mixture (cheese, egg, parsley, parmesan & mozzarella)...layer in crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours. Comes out fantastic...and the smell fills up the house all afternoon.

[Ambikes]

I make a lasagna that's very similar to the one Roxy does also. However, I'll usually sub the ricotta for cottage cheese. My mom always made lasagna this way, so I didn't even realize you were supposed to use ricotta until I moved away from home! The cottage cheese has a lot more protein and less fat than the ricotta, and you don't sacrifice a whole lot of flavor. Lasagna with ricotta is a little more rich and cheesy, though.

[ny biker]

You guys are awesome. Thank you!!

[bmccasland]

Uncooked noodles and a crock pot, who knew??

[tulip]

Uncooked noodles and a crock pot, who knew??

It really makes making lasagne a snap. Try it sometime!