Lasagna is a tedious thing to cook from scratch. It starts with the pasta, then preparing the two sauces (red and white), and then baking. Really, all that effort equates to cooking 4 separate dishes!
Imagine my relief when, one day, this oven-ready, no pre-cooking needed lasagna sheets showed itself to me in the supermarket. This one is by San Remo.
I immediately grabbed one to test and see how the texture would turn out. The last time I tried my hand at cooking lasagna, the pasta sheets got ripped in places and the lasagna looked more like a baked flat-mac. Admittedly.it was a disaster in presentation, but the taste was delish.
According to the package instructions, the sheets must be well-immersed in sauce to provide the right moisture to the dry pasta. Sounds just right, right?
So, now that the boiling step is out of the way, the red sauce becomes first order of business. Then comes the white (cheese) sauce, assembly and baking. It's still a 4-step process, but hey, it's a labor of love, baby!
Now, for the recipe:
Instant Lasagna
Prep time: | Cook time: | Total time:Ingredients:
RED sauce
1/4 kilo ground beef
1 medium onion chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 small sweet pepper, chopped (pimiento)
Italian seasoning (thyme, oregano, basil)
1 pack tomato sauce
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp olive oil
ground pepper
salt
WHITE sauce
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheese (Quickmelt/cheddar/mozarella -any cheese combination of your preference)
TOPPING
Parmesan cheese
Quickmelt cheese (or other cheese of your choice)
Instructions:
RED sauce
1. Saute garlic, onions and tomato in olive oil.
2. Add ground beef and carrots. Cook until done.
3. Add sweet pepper, tomato sauce and tomato paste.
4. Season with herbs, salt and pepper.
5. Set aside.
WHITE sauce
1. On low heat, melt butter.
2. Add flour and cook until well incorporated, and slightly golden.
3. Add milk slowly (make sure the thickened mixture is free from lumps).
4. Pour in cheese.
5. Set aside.
Assembly
1. Assemble the lasagna in an oven-safe dish: red sauce, lasagna sheet, red sauce, white sauce, lasagna sheet, and so on.
2. On the last (top) layer, add white sauce topped with parmesan cheese.
3. Bake on 80 degrees for about 15 minutes or until pasta is soft with the toothpick test.
4. Cool before serving.
2. Add ground beef and carrots. Cook until done.
3. Add sweet pepper, tomato sauce and tomato paste.
4. Season with herbs, salt and pepper.
5. Set aside.
WHITE sauce
1. On low heat, melt butter.
2. Add flour and cook until well incorporated, and slightly golden.
3. Add milk slowly (make sure the thickened mixture is free from lumps).
4. Pour in cheese.
5. Set aside.
Assembly
1. Assemble the lasagna in an oven-safe dish: red sauce, lasagna sheet, red sauce, white sauce, lasagna sheet, and so on.
2. On the last (top) layer, add white sauce topped with parmesan cheese.
3. Bake on 80 degrees for about 15 minutes or until pasta is soft with the toothpick test.
4. Cool before serving.
Where to buy San Remo? Meron ba sa mga SM groceries? thanks!
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