Lasagna experiment, or how 90 minutes at 375 saved my dinner.

Not all experiments turn out as well as the miso glazed num num episode.  This is a story about one that turned out fine, just not as golden as I would have hoped.  But now I have a great jumping off point for the next time.  Let's start at the beginning.

I ask Monkey (AKA my boyfriend) what he wants for dinner, every day I cook.  The past three answers have been an emphatic "Lasagna!"  My only lasagna experience (aside from eating it) was making a vegan version years ago with a friend.  (My vegan days, which are happily over and we shall never speak of again, lasted for many many years due to a dairy allergy from childhood that I outgrew and then I discovered the joy of cheese, yogurt and Ben and Jerry's.  But I digress.)

I have a large tool belt of "go to" recipes, but lasagna is not one of these things.  Okay, let's try this out.  Epicurious took me down a long road of recipes and I picked this one from Self magazine, 2005.  I tweaked it.  As per usual.  I don't do measuring when I cook if I can help it, so here we go!

What I used:

1 rounded cup of ricotta
1 tbsp thyme
1/2 tbsp basil (dried)
1/2 tbsp oregano
3 plus cloves of garlic

Mix all these things together and set aside.

Looks tasty, right?  And it is!  I could have used a little more garlic, but I can't ever have too much garlic, so use to your taste.  Also I sprinkled a little black pepper and salt.

Next I chopped up a ton of vegetables in the amounts of:



1 carrot
1 large zucchini
1/2 a yellow onion
1 green pepper
8 mushrooms
1 broccoli crown

For the remaining ingredients, I used one box of oven ready lasagna noodles that had been in the kitchen cabinet for longer than I care to admit, 3/4 jar of pasta sauce (it would have been an entire jar, but we had used a bit for pizza sauce the other night. Desperate times.) one 32 oz can of crushed tomatoes (to make up for the lack of tomato sauce remaining) and 1 large chunk of mozzarella, grated.   now the layering begins.

Start with coating the bottom of your pan with sauce.  Then layer the noodles, veggies, and top off with dollops of the ricotta mixture and a nice handful of the mozzarella.  Repeat these layers (I think I fit in 4 good layers?) and end with noodles, sauce and parmesan on the top.

• Having finished this layered beauty, it was time to put it in the oven (pre heated to 375) and bake!  Now, this is where it got tricky.  The recipe I used said it only needed to bake for 50 minutes.  As poor Monkey and I discovered after  each crunching our way through a small piece, this was not nearly enough time.  "That's it!"  I thought to myself.  "I am officially a failure in the kitchen.  One of the most foolproof foods you can throw together, and I can't make it."  Back in the oven and 40 more minutes later, I realized I was wrong.  It was good.  Quite good actually.  Maybe more cheese and sauce and less veggies for next time (I was trying to make this on the healthy side, but who am I fooling?  Cheese is what makes the world go round and why try and use less of a brilliant thing?)  Lesson learned my friends.  You can never have too much garlic or cheese in the world.