Monday, June 6, 2011

Report - "The World's Fastest Lasagna"



I found the recipe here and it is a winner! The texture is a little different because of no "noodles" but we both liked it very much and Sarah is right. It is very fast to make and would be great, also, for anyone wanting to eat gluten-free who loves lasagna.

Here is how I did it.

2 days before, I put 2 cups of whole ground corn meal into a bowl with 1 Tablespoon milk kefir in a 2 cup measuring thing and filled it up with water to the 2 cup line. I let that soak for 24 hours.

Then, I put water in the base of my double boiler and brought that to a boil and also boiled 4 cups of water in my tea kettle. When both were boiling, I poured the 4 cups into the top of the double boiler and then started adding the soaked corn meal gradually, stirring well. I added some salt. You will have to do this to taste. Then, stirring from time to time, I put on the lid and cooked it all for 45 minutes.

When it was all done and nice and thick, I poured it into a tupperware type container and let it cool, covered it and put it in the fridge.

I did all so this so I would not have to BUY polenta at the grocery store.

When it was time to make the lasagna, I used some slices of the polenta to cover the bottom of my baking dish. Then I used homemade whole milk ricotta, ground beef cooked with a little lard and a chopped onion, mixed into some home canned tomato sauce, and also some grated homemade mozarella cheese that I had in the freezer.

Obviously, all these things can be purchased at a store, but I am just telling you what I used.

I mixed in some extra Italian seasoning and then layered it like this:

Butter the baking dish.
Put in slices of polenta to cover the bottom.
Put on half the ricotta.
Then half of the marinara and meat sauce.
Then half of the mozarella.
Next, ricotta, sauce and mozarella.

Bake at 375 F for 25 minutes, till bubbly. Let it cool for a while and then serve. Yummy!!

Here are the amounts I used for my pan, which is about 7 inches by 9 inches:

LASAGNA


1/2 # polenta, sliced
2 cups marinara sauce
1 Tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
1 small onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon of lard for sauteing the onion
1/2 # ground beef
1/4 # mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup ricotta cheese

Butter the baking dish.
Saute the chopped onion for a few minutes then cook the ground beef with it, chopping it all up.
Add the marinara and Italian seasoning to the meat.
Grate the mozzarella cheese.
Now, layer everthing on top of the polenta ~ 1/2 ricotta, sauce, mozzarella, ricotta, sauce, moz.
Bake at 375 F for 25 minutes
Allow to cool for a while before serving, just a few minutes.

2 comments:

  1. So glad you liked it! I wonder if polenta can be frozen...hmmm off to google.

    Sarah @ Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity

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  2. What a great idea, Sarah! I looked online and it seems that you can freeze polenta. Good. I have extra from this recipe and was concerned about using it up in time. Thanks!

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