September 2021 – StewsCat

I’ve done lasagna a handful of times now and everytime I do things a little bit differently. I’ve tried it with my homemade dough, traditional dried pasta as well as the oven ready (no boil) noodles. Overall I think I still like the traditional pasta that you boil first. This time I decided to jazz up the recipe a bit with some sauteed mushrooms along with italian sausage and I have enjoyed this one the best.

Ingredients for sauce

28 ounce Cento San Marzano peeled tomatoes
Tomato Paste
Dried oregano / Dried Basil
Rind of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Bay leaf
Salt
Garlic
Olive oil

Directions for sauce

Sauté dieced garlic in the olive oil in a pot
Add in the tomatoes (crush whole tomatoes with hands), tomato paste, oregano, basil, rind of parmigiano, bay leaf, salt.
Simmer for at least 30 minutes and up to a few hours.

Ingredients for lasagna

Sauce from above
1 box of traditional dried lasagna noodles
Whole milk mozzarella cheese
Ricotta cheese
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (put in a food processor to make into crumbles for spreading – easier than trying to grate or slice).
Cremini mushrooms
Mild italian sausage (can also use ground beef, pork, chicken, etc)

Directions for lasagna

Sauté slice mushrooms until soft and tender, add salt for flavoring
Cook sausage (remove from casing and crumble) in some olive oil
Cook pasta (follow directions) and then lay out on a oiled cookie pan to prevent from sticking to one another
Add a layer of sauce to bottom of casserole dish to help prevent sticking
Add layer of pasta
Can create layers as desired – I did mushrooms with sauce and cheese (mozz/parmigiano/ricotta as dollops), then another layer of noodle, then a layer with sausage and sauce/cheese.
Repeat a few more times (depends on amount of pasta and sauce you have)
Top layer: Add sauce and then cheese layer
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 F for 30-40 minutes, then uncover and bake additional 15 minutes.
Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting and eating.

-StewsCat

I’m terrible about posting. I realized that I do need to be more diligent about it because I use this as my reference for how to make stuff. I decided to make some enchiladas again. I couldn’t remember how I did it the last time because it had been so long ago. I like making the sauce because then I control the amount of sodium in it. I have used some of the store bought sauces and they are typically salt bombs. The sauce is actually quite easy to make. I’ve got both the sauce recipe as well as the actual enchilada recipe below. We like flour tortillas (I know traditionally it is corn) so for this one I made flour tortillas to go into it.

Enchilada sauce

~ 1 lb tomatillos
1 medium yellow onion
1 anaheim pepper
2 jalapeno peppers
Cumin (~1 Tbsp)
Mexican oregano (~2 tsp)
Salt (~ 1 tsp)
Black pepper (~ 1 tsp)
Handful of cilantro (I forgot this when I made it)

Directions:

Peel and wash the tomatillos and cut the onion into quarters and simmered in water for 10-15 minutes.
Toasted the anaheim pepper on stove flame
Add tomatillos, onion, and ~3/4 cup of water to blender
Add remaining ingredients to the blender and blend until desired thickness/consistency
Simmer sauce in pot for 10-15 minutes

Ingredients – 2 jalapenos gave the sauce a little more kick

Blended ingredients and the simmered for 10-20 minutes.

Enchilada recipe

2 cups enchilada sauce (see above)
Shredded chicken breast
Cheese (monterey jack, mexican blend, cheddar, mozzarella) – whatever your heart desires
Tortillas (corn or flour) – I ended up making my flour tortillas because we enjoy them better than corn overall

Directions

In a casserole dish, add some sauce to line the bottom of dish
Dip and cover both sides of tortilla in sauce, add ingredients (in this case it was a mixture of the chicken and cheese)
Roll tortilla and place into casserole dish.
Repeat process until casserole dish filled with rolled tortillas
Cover in sauce and then cheese
Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes covered, then uncover and bake additional 5-10 minutes.