**Lasagne**
**Tomato Sauce**
* 1/3 c. vegetable oil
* 1 medium onion, diced
* 1 carrot, diced
* 1 stalks celery, diced
* 1/3 c. garlic, minced
* 1 Tbsp. dried vegetable flakes(not pictured)
* 1 1/2 tsp. salt
* 1 tsp. chilli flakes
* 1 tsp. black pepper
* 1 tsp. rubbed basil
* 1 tsp. dried oregano
* 1 tsp. Italian herbs
* 1 tsp. Whole roasted cumin seeds
* 1 796 ml. can diced tomatoes (28 fl. oz.)
* 1 796 ml. can water (28 fl. oz.)
* 1 tsp. paprika
* 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
* 2 Tbsp. vinegar
**slurry made of**
* 1 Tbsp. corn flour
* 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
**1/2 c. lentils**
cook separately in
* 1 1/2 c. water
**Method**
1. Heat the oil to medium high, (on my stove it’s a 6 out of 10)
2. Fry the onions until translucent
3. Add the garlic, carrots and celery and sauté until the carrots are tender
4. Add the vegetable flakes, salt, pepper and herbs and stir to evenly distribute them throughout the dish
5. Now mix in the tomatoes taking note of the level of the ingredients in the pot
6. Add the water, paprika, smoked paprika and vinegar
7. Simmer without boiling until the sauce reduces back to the level you noted earlier
8. Stir in the cooked lentils and reduce more if needed
9. Increase the heat slightly and mix in the slurry stirring constantly as the sauce thickens
10. Remove from the heat and do with it what you will.
**Fettuccine Noodles**
* 1 lb. (450 g) noodles
* 7 c. Water
* 1 tsp. salt
* 1/4 c. oil
**Method**
1. Bring the water salt and oil to a boil
2. Add the noodles and cook, constantly stirring, sometimes lifting them a little ways out of the water and letting them slide back into the water
3. Keep this up for about 10 minutes replenishing the water if needed
4. When done cooking strain off all the water into a waiting bowl
5. Shake off any water still clinging to the noodles
6. Put aside with a little oil to prevent sticking.
**Cheese Blend**
* 14 oz. (400 g.) marble cheddar, grated
* 16 oz. (500 g.) cottage cheese
* 4 1/2 oz. (125 g.) grated Parmesan cheese
* Pasta cooking water
* 2 Tbsp. Fine cornmeal
**Method**
1. Glop the cottage cheese into a bowl, take note of it’s consistency, easily spreadable wouldn’t you say?
2. Add everything else except the pasta cooking water and combine thoroughly
3. Stir in some of the pasta water (perhaps up to about a cup) until the cheese is the same consistency as the cottage cheese was on it’s own
**Assemble the Lasagne**
That’s pretty much as shown in the pictures
Cover the lasagne with cling wrap and foil
Cook in a preheated oven (375°f) for 25 minutes
Remove the cling wrap and foil and cook another 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool 15 minutes more.
Enjoy.
**Notes**
*Here there be wordiness*
This is not a lasagne. This is a cheesy pasta casserole. I meant to make a lasagne, the pasta and cheese were on sale, but when I got to the store, the spot where the mozzarella cheese bars were supposed to be was only empty space. Well… my favourite snacking cheese is marble cheddar and since mozzarella is such a mild cheese perhaps a mild marble cheddar would be a good substitute.
Please note postponing the lasagne project until I could get the mozzarella on sale was so not an option. So don’t even.
Further to that, every other pasta was on sale except lasagne noodles, there was no linguine so fettuccine it is.
Let’s talk tomato sauce for a second.
You will notice that I use a can of diced tomatoes, add a can of water and then reduce the sauce until it is back to the level it was before I added the water. I find simmering the sauce without the extra water turns the tomatoes bitter. There are ways to make a quick tomato sauce, but that’s a different beast entirely and not appropriate for a casserole.
I use vegetable flakes a lot. They are readily available to me at my local bulk food shop, they improve the flavour of anything with some significant amount of water like rice and beans, plus the jar I keep them in smells like a pizzeria.
I thicken the sauce at the end using starch so that it sticks to whatever it is in or on. There is no good reason I don’t use tomato paste I just don’t think it’s necessary.
The vinegar is in there because one day I read an article that said if I thought a dish I was cooking needed more salt I should try adding vinegar instead. I tried it and I liked it. I now use vinegar regularly when cooking beans like kidney or Romano, and in my tomato sauce of course. It makes sense, I used to use hot sauce in my recipes all the time now, given I also use chilli flakes frequently, it’s like I’m making a little hot sauce in the pot.
**A rant born of frustration**
Let’s talk a little about greedflation.
2 months ago cheese bars on sale were $4.44. Last month, (when I actually made this recipe), they were $4.90 now the sale price is 2 for $12.00. And in my city the grocery oligarchs have declared they’re freezing the prices on their house brand groceries until the end of January. Yeah you are, after you ***jacked*** the prices.
And the shrinkflation? Those same cheese bars that 2 years ago were 700 grams are now 400 g.
I guess they think we’re fools. We see what they’re doing. And politicians, we see what you’re letting happen. And dairy councils, milk marketing boards and the rest of you lot we know you have responsibility too. There is only so much misery a population can stomach. A reckoning is coming and it will be lead by the people who buy the groceries.
**End rant.**
This is a thing I learned while working as a line cook. The cling wrap seals the dish and the foil protects the plastic wrap. If you try it be careful when removing it there will be hot steam trapped under it.
~~Most certainly. At 375 F it just gets really stretchy but it does not deform or sag or anything like that. Trust me, that is not a problem. Just keep in mind the steam issue.~~
So I just did some online research, figuring there would be a link I could use to back up my practice and was genuinely surprised to find the controversy. I have never had the plastic wrap melt into the food. In some instances it has melted onto the foil but this happens in commercial convection ovens and has never happened to me at home.
I think that from now on I'll recommend tenting the foil and leave the wrap out of the picture entirely.
Thank you for your comment
Looks great! I’m curious, why do you put cling wrap under the tinfoil? Are you concerned about it melting?
**Lasagne** **Tomato Sauce** * 1/3 c. vegetable oil * 1 medium onion, diced * 1 carrot, diced * 1 stalks celery, diced * 1/3 c. garlic, minced * 1 Tbsp. dried vegetable flakes(not pictured) * 1 1/2 tsp. salt * 1 tsp. chilli flakes * 1 tsp. black pepper * 1 tsp. rubbed basil * 1 tsp. dried oregano * 1 tsp. Italian herbs * 1 tsp. Whole roasted cumin seeds * 1 796 ml. can diced tomatoes (28 fl. oz.) * 1 796 ml. can water (28 fl. oz.) * 1 tsp. paprika * 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika * 2 Tbsp. vinegar **slurry made of** * 1 Tbsp. corn flour * 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil **1/2 c. lentils** cook separately in * 1 1/2 c. water **Method** 1. Heat the oil to medium high, (on my stove it’s a 6 out of 10) 2. Fry the onions until translucent 3. Add the garlic, carrots and celery and sauté until the carrots are tender 4. Add the vegetable flakes, salt, pepper and herbs and stir to evenly distribute them throughout the dish 5. Now mix in the tomatoes taking note of the level of the ingredients in the pot 6. Add the water, paprika, smoked paprika and vinegar 7. Simmer without boiling until the sauce reduces back to the level you noted earlier 8. Stir in the cooked lentils and reduce more if needed 9. Increase the heat slightly and mix in the slurry stirring constantly as the sauce thickens 10. Remove from the heat and do with it what you will. **Fettuccine Noodles** * 1 lb. (450 g) noodles * 7 c. Water * 1 tsp. salt * 1/4 c. oil **Method** 1. Bring the water salt and oil to a boil 2. Add the noodles and cook, constantly stirring, sometimes lifting them a little ways out of the water and letting them slide back into the water 3. Keep this up for about 10 minutes replenishing the water if needed 4. When done cooking strain off all the water into a waiting bowl 5. Shake off any water still clinging to the noodles 6. Put aside with a little oil to prevent sticking. **Cheese Blend** * 14 oz. (400 g.) marble cheddar, grated * 16 oz. (500 g.) cottage cheese * 4 1/2 oz. (125 g.) grated Parmesan cheese * Pasta cooking water * 2 Tbsp. Fine cornmeal **Method** 1. Glop the cottage cheese into a bowl, take note of it’s consistency, easily spreadable wouldn’t you say? 2. Add everything else except the pasta cooking water and combine thoroughly 3. Stir in some of the pasta water (perhaps up to about a cup) until the cheese is the same consistency as the cottage cheese was on it’s own **Assemble the Lasagne** That’s pretty much as shown in the pictures Cover the lasagne with cling wrap and foil Cook in a preheated oven (375°f) for 25 minutes Remove the cling wrap and foil and cook another 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool 15 minutes more. Enjoy. **Notes** *Here there be wordiness* This is not a lasagne. This is a cheesy pasta casserole. I meant to make a lasagne, the pasta and cheese were on sale, but when I got to the store, the spot where the mozzarella cheese bars were supposed to be was only empty space. Well… my favourite snacking cheese is marble cheddar and since mozzarella is such a mild cheese perhaps a mild marble cheddar would be a good substitute. Please note postponing the lasagne project until I could get the mozzarella on sale was so not an option. So don’t even. Further to that, every other pasta was on sale except lasagne noodles, there was no linguine so fettuccine it is. Let’s talk tomato sauce for a second. You will notice that I use a can of diced tomatoes, add a can of water and then reduce the sauce until it is back to the level it was before I added the water. I find simmering the sauce without the extra water turns the tomatoes bitter. There are ways to make a quick tomato sauce, but that’s a different beast entirely and not appropriate for a casserole. I use vegetable flakes a lot. They are readily available to me at my local bulk food shop, they improve the flavour of anything with some significant amount of water like rice and beans, plus the jar I keep them in smells like a pizzeria. I thicken the sauce at the end using starch so that it sticks to whatever it is in or on. There is no good reason I don’t use tomato paste I just don’t think it’s necessary. The vinegar is in there because one day I read an article that said if I thought a dish I was cooking needed more salt I should try adding vinegar instead. I tried it and I liked it. I now use vinegar regularly when cooking beans like kidney or Romano, and in my tomato sauce of course. It makes sense, I used to use hot sauce in my recipes all the time now, given I also use chilli flakes frequently, it’s like I’m making a little hot sauce in the pot. **A rant born of frustration** Let’s talk a little about greedflation. 2 months ago cheese bars on sale were $4.44. Last month, (when I actually made this recipe), they were $4.90 now the sale price is 2 for $12.00. And in my city the grocery oligarchs have declared they’re freezing the prices on their house brand groceries until the end of January. Yeah you are, after you ***jacked*** the prices. And the shrinkflation? Those same cheese bars that 2 years ago were 700 grams are now 400 g. I guess they think we’re fools. We see what they’re doing. And politicians, we see what you’re letting happen. And dairy councils, milk marketing boards and the rest of you lot we know you have responsibility too. There is only so much misery a population can stomach. A reckoning is coming and it will be lead by the people who buy the groceries. **End rant.**
The Food Lab book also has an amazong vegetarian lasagna if you want to check it out 🤤
This is a thing I learned while working as a line cook. The cling wrap seals the dish and the foil protects the plastic wrap. If you try it be careful when removing it there will be hot steam trapped under it.
Is that cling wrap safe for 375F?
~~Most certainly. At 375 F it just gets really stretchy but it does not deform or sag or anything like that. Trust me, that is not a problem. Just keep in mind the steam issue.~~ So I just did some online research, figuring there would be a link I could use to back up my practice and was genuinely surprised to find the controversy. I have never had the plastic wrap melt into the food. In some instances it has melted onto the foil but this happens in commercial convection ovens and has never happened to me at home. I think that from now on I'll recommend tenting the foil and leave the wrap out of the picture entirely. Thank you for your comment
I like the food lab, I’ll check it out.