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It’s time for Sunday dinner, and today I made one of my favorite dinner dishes which is Lasagna!
Aside from macaroni and cheese, this is my all time favorite pasta dish. My mom would also cook lasagna for my family on Sundays. I remember she would allow me to assist her in the kitchen. As her little helper, I would place the layers of mozzarella cheese on as she layered the sauce, and for a job well done I got to eat the remaining cheese:) Part of this “adulting” thing is creating my own versions of Sunday Dinners. Since I do not yet have a family of my own, I am fortunate enough to have incredible friends who are now family here in Harlem. So when I told my friends I wanted to host Sunday dinner at my place, everyone responded with what time is dinner and what can I bring. I wanted to challenge myself, and enhance the lasagna dish that I am used to eating. I still love my momma’s lasagna, but I wanted to see what else can be done to enhance her recipe.
One of my friends, Marisa, who is a first generation Italian told me her mom makes the best lasagna with a béchamel sauce. Beche what? Is exactly what I said. Béchamel sauce is a white sauce which is made from a white roux (butter and flour) and milk. Once you add this to your basic lasagna recipe, it takes it to a whole new level. You use the béchamel in place of ricotta cheese, which apparently is not in traditional Italian lasagna recipes. I am not going to lie this dish is something you want to spread over two days, so you are not spending hours in the kitchen because that is just no fun.
You can make the sauces one day, and cook the noodles and assemble this dish on the day you’re ready to serve it. You can also prepare the whole dish ahead of time, and when you’re ready to cook the meal, just let it sit out 2 hours at room temperature before baking. Now don’t get intimated by the recipe list most of these ingredients I bet you have in your cabinet, so no worries. I do want to experiment with making my pasta one day, which would require me buying another gadget which I should off on for now…so today is not the day to make my pasta. Store bought pasta is fine for this recipe, or if you can get your hands on fresh lasagna pasta that is even better! You can find fresh lasagna at Italian specialty food stores. If you live in the NY, you can get your fresh pasta from Eatly. If you don’t want to use fresh pasta you can use pasta from the grocery store. Just follow the directions on the box and cook them al dente. Once they are doing cooking lay them out on some parchment paper so they can dry as you make the sauces.
The prep work for this is very minimal if you have a food processor. My food processor is easily becoming my favorite kitchen gadget. Gone are the days that I would dread chopping onions because of the burning river of tears that would flow from my eyes. Who has time to chop & mince up garlic anyway? Just throw the garlic and onion in the food processor, and give it a couple of pulses and you are ready to go. It is seriously one of the best kitchen hacks out there! For my meat, I used ground turkey, but you can certainly opt to use ground beef. I paired this dish with this amazing 4 ingredient no knead bread, because what is a pasta dish without more carbs 🙂 I will add the link to this recipe shortly.
COOKING UP THAT WORK VOL. 10
I can’t believe I have made it to 10 mixtapes already! I hope you guys enjoy listening to this because I love jamming in the kitchen. Sometimes I do get carried away with the singing and dancing… I make no promises you may find yourself dancing to every one of these songs 🙂 This week I have on constant repeat Kendric Lamar & Wale album. Both albums are amazing so below are a few of my favorites.
The Ultimate Lasagna
Upgrade your basic lasagna recipe by adding a béchamel sauce.
Ingredients
Meat Sauce
- 2 lbs ground turkey
- 1 small onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
- 2 (8 ounces) cans of tomato paste
- 2 (15 ounces) cans tomato sauce
- 2 cups water may need more or less depends on how long you want to simmer. If you don't want to simmer longer than 2 hours use less water
- 3 teaspoons basil fresh, if possible
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup red wine make sure to use a good cabernet
Béchamel Sauce
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 cups whole milk warmed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese Freshly Grated
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- pepper to taste
- 2 boxes of lasagna (24 noodles needed,please do not get no boil noodles)
- 2 cups finely grated parmesan
- unsalted butter, room temp (for dish)
Instructions
To make the meat sauce:
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In a large stock pot, add ground turkey meat with seasonings. I don't measure out my seasoning I just put a little bit of each of the following: salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, etc. and brown the meat.
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Place onion and garlic in food processor. If you don't have a food processor (get you one soon lol), but finely chop the onion and mince the garlic.
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Add garlic and onion to the pot with the meat, and let cook for about 4 minutes. Stirring occasionally until onions are cooked.
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Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Stir
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Add chopped basil, parsley, brown sugar, salt, crushed red pepper flakes, and ground black pepper
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Bring mixture to a slight boil, and add wine.
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Lower heat, and let the sauce simmer for a minimum of an hour. Make sure to stir frequently to avoid any burning. The longer you let this simmer, the more flavorful your sauce will turn out. I let mine simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
To make the béchamel sauce:
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Add butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until foaming.
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Add the flour and cook, constantly whisking for about 1 minute.
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Whisk in the warm milk 1/2 cup at a time. Bring the sauce to a boil, and reduce heat and simmer.
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Whisk the mixture often until it is the consistency of cream. This process will take about 8-9 minute. Add in the fresh nutmeg, garlic, pepper, and salt. Turn off heat and stir in the mozzarella one cup at a time, until melted (if it doesn't entirely melt, turn back the heat on a low setting and stir until just melted and smooth). Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool. *If making ahead of time, you can chill until ready to use.
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Cook lasagna noodles according to package, make sure not to overcook the noodles. You want this al dente especially since this is going to continue to bake in the oven.
Assemble the lasagna:
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat your 13X9 dish with butter
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Add 1/4 cup béchamel to the bottom of the dish. Top with a layer of noodles, spread a light coating about 3/4 cup of sauce, then about 1/2 cup of the béchamel sauce and top with 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Repeat this process 7 more times. You will have a total of 8 layers starting with the noodles and ending with the Parmesan cheese.
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Cover the lasagna with foil and place the baking dish on top of a baking sheet. Bake the lasagna until it starts bubbling about 40 minutes, remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes until the top of the lasagna begins to brown. Let lasagna sit for 45 minutes before serving.
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You can NOW finally enjoy this dish!
Until next time!
