Lasagna For A Crowd Recipes

CLASSIC LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the lasagna noodles and olive oil; cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes; drain.
• Cook the ground beef and sausage in a large pot over medium heat; drain. Stir in the mushrooms, garlic salt, oregano, thyme, basil, and tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper; simmer 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, mix together the ricotta cheese, eggs, and Parmesan cheese in a bowl.
• Ladle enough of the meat sauce into a 9x13 inch baking dish to cover the bottom in a thin layer. Form a layer atop the sauce with 3 of the lasagna noodles. Spread about 1/4 of the ricotta cheese mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese over the ricotta cheese mixture and then ladle about 1/3 of the meat sauce over the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layering twice more, topping with the remaining 1/4 pound of mozzarella cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven 90 minutes. Allow to sit 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

EASY LASAGNA FOR A CROWD

Steps:

• Cook lasagna noodles in a deep pot in lots of boiling water, some salt and a small amount of oil. Do not overcook. Drain and let stand in cold water until ready to assemble. Cook ground beef. Add chopped onion while cooking. Season with fennel seeds or anise, oregano, sweet basil, garlic powder or minced garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Keep meat well crumbled as it cooks. Use medium heat and stir often, small amount of water may be added. Do not brown. When nice and crumbly and when pink is gone, add Italian or spaghetti sauce. Mix well and set aside. Beat eggs, add cottage or ricotta cheese, and Parmesan cheese, add salt, pepper and parsley flakes. Spray coat steam table pans, layer noodles (4 noodles make a layer). Put layer of meat tomato sauce, then layer of cottage cheese mixture, sprinkle with grated Mozzarella cheese on top. Repeat layers, ending with layer of sauce and topped with a generous layer of Mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375 degrees F for 35 minutes. Should be bubbly. Let set 10 or 15 minutes before serving. Each pan serves 15 generously. cook's notes This may be frozen and reheated. If you think more liquid is needed, add tomato juice or use some additional sauce over top while baking.

BEST LASAGNA

Steps:

• Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, cook sausage, beef and onion over medium heat 8-10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, breaking up meat into crumbles. Add garlic; cook 1 minute. Drain., Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar, 3 tablespoons parsley, basil, fennel, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes, stirring occasionally., In a small bowl, mix egg, ricotta cheese and remaining parsley and salt., Preheat oven to 375°. Spread 2 cups meat sauce into an ungreased 13x9-in. baking dish. Layer with 3 noodles and a third of the ricotta mixture. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining meat sauce and cheeses (dish will be full)., Bake, covered, 25 minutes. Bake, uncovered, 25 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

CROWD-SOURCED MEAT LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Rub the bottom and sides of a deep 9-by-13-inch baking dish (about 5 quarts) with olive oil. Set aside.
• Make the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, 1 teaspoon oregano and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the beef and sausage and cook, breaking up the meat into crumbles with a spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook until everything is well coated and the tomato paste is a shade darker, about 2 minutes. Add the vermouth and cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot, until almost dry. Add the crushed tomatoes, 1 1/2 cups water, the remaining 1 teaspoon oregano, 1 teaspoon salt and a generous amount of pepper. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently until the sauce reduces slightly, 20 to 25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; add a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes taste sharp.
• Meanwhile, cook the noodles: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook, stirring, until just al dente and pliable, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a colander; run cool water over the noodles and separate them.
• Make the filling: Lightly beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the ricotta, 2/3 cup Parmesan, the parsley, 3/4 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper and stir until combined.
• Assemble the lasagna: Spread a thin layer of sauce (about 1 cup) in the bottom of the baking dish. Top with 3 noodles, laying them lengthwise. Top the noodles with one-quarter of the remaining sauce (about 2 cups). Dollop one-third of the ricotta mixture (about 1 1/2 cups) on top and spread in an even layer. Top with 3/4 cup mozzarella and 1 tablespoon Parmesan. Repeat these layers two more times (noodles, sauce, ricotta mixture, mozzarella and parmesan). For the last layer, add the remaining 3 noodles, sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan.
• Cover the baking dish with foil, sealing the edges (do not press the foil into the cheese). Bake until the lasagna is hot and bubbly, 35 to 40 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until golden brown, 20 to 30 more minutes. Let cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.

LASAGNA FOR A CROWD

Steps:

• Brown meat, onion, and green pepper (and mushrooms if desired), adding garlic salt. Drain fat.
• Add tomato sauce and bring to a simmer, cover and cook for at least 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, cook the lasagna noodles in salted water (reserve the cooking liquid) until barely al dente (about 7 minutes) and combine the cottage cheese and mayonnaise in a bowl.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Grease a 13X9 pan with butter. Evaluate the sauce, if it has cooked for a long time and lost a lot of liquid, thin it by adding 1/4 cup at a time of cooking liquid from the noodles. Add as much as desired to get the right consistency: thick but spreadable. This will also make your sauce "sticky" so it will coat the noodles.
• Spoon a thin layer of sauce into the bottom of the dish. Layer noodles (overlapping if necessary), 1/2 meat mixture and 1/2 the cheese mixture.
• Cover with the rest of noodles, meat and cheese mixture. Top with shredded mozzarella.
• You can store this in the refrigerator or freezer at this point until ready to heat. Allow extra time for reheating from cold or frozen state. Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray and cover the lasagna with it. Bake for 1 hour.
• Uncover and continue baking until the cheese is bubbly and browning.

EGGPLANT-MUSHROOM 'LASAGNA' FOR A CROWD

Steps:

• Preheat a broiler. Line a large broiler pan with foil.
• Slice the eggplants one-half-inch thick, discarding the stems and the very bottom slices. Place as many of the slices as fit in a single layer on the broiler pan and broil until lightly browned, turning the slices once to brown both sides. Repeat until all the slices have been browned, then set them aside.
• Heat three tablespoons of the oil in a very large, heavy nonstick skillet over high heat. If you do not have a very large skillet, one that holds about four quarts, use two skillets. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry until they have wilted. Remove them from the pan and place in a bowl.
• Add one tablespoon oil to the pan or pans along with the onions, sweet pepper and garlic. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook vegetables, stirring until soft, about 10 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes to the pan, bring to a simmer and cook until fairly smooth, about 20 minutes. Add the oregano, parsley and fennel and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix half the tomato sauce with the mushrooms and set the rest aside.
• Melt the butter in a medium-size saucepan. Whisk in the flour then slowly whisk in the milk. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened and smooth. It will not be a very thick sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Mix in the shredded mozzarella.
• Use one-half tablespoon of oil to grease two baking dishes each about 9 by 13 inches and 2 inches deep. Spread a little of the plain tomato sauce in the bottom of each.
• Place a layer of eggplant in each dish, using a total of one-third of the eggplant. Spread with one-half of the tomato and mushroom mixture, then sprinkle with one-third of the bread crumbs. Spoon on half the mozzarella and white sauce mixture. Then repeat the layers of eggplant, mushrooms with tomato, bread crumbs and mozzarella and white sauce.
• Finally, top each baking dish with a layer of eggplant and spread with a thin layer of the plain tomato sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining bread crumbs, then sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese. Drizzle with the remaining oil. Cover the baking dishes with foil. If the dishes are prepared more than two hours before serving they should be refrigerated.
• Have the baking dishes at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the baking dishes in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Uncover the dishes and bake 25 to 30 minutes longer, until the ingredients bubble and the top lightly browns.
• Meanwhile, reheat the remaining tomato sauce.
• When the baking dishes are removed from the oven allow them to stand for five minutes before serving. Serve a dish of the tomato sauce alongside. If you cannot fit both baking dishes in your oven at one time, either bake the second one after the first has come out of the oven or you can bake them an hour or so in advance of serving, cover them with foil when they have come out of the oven, then reheat each at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes before serving.