Middle Eastern Lasagna Recipes

WORLD'S BEST LASAGNA

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

EASY LASAGNA II

Steps:

• In a large skillet over medium heat brown the ground beef. Drain the grease. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.
• In a large bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese, eggs, half of the grated Parmesan cheese, dried parsley, salt and ground black pepper.
• To assemble, in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish evenly spread 3/4 cup of the sauce mixture. Cover with 3 uncooked lasagna noodles, 1 3/4 cup of the cheese mixture, and 1/4 cup sauce. Repeat layers once more: top with 3 noodles, remaining sauce, remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Add 1/2 cup water to the edges of the pan. Cover with aluminum foil.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degree F(175 degrees C) oven for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

CLASSIC LASAGNA

Steps:

• Make the sauce: Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add sausage, if using, and cook, stirring occasionally, until it's starting to brown but not yet crisp, about 5 minutes.
• Add onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is totally softened and translucent (without letting it brown), 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and continue to cook, stirring until the tomato paste has turned a deeper brick red color, tinting the oil and onions a fiery orange color, about 2 minutes.
• Using your hands, crush the whole tomatoes into smaller, bite-size pieces and add them and the crushed tomatoes, stirring to scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pot. Fill one of the tomato cans halfway with water and add it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato sauce has thickened and flavors have come together, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Make the lasagna: Heat oven to 375 degrees and set a large pot of salted water to boil.
• Set aside 1 cup mozzarella. In a medium bowl, combine remaining mozzarella, ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan and cream; season with salt and pepper and set aside.
• Cook lasagna noodles in the large pot of salted boiling water until just softened (before they are even aldente), about 4 minutes. Drain and separate any noodles that are trying to stick together, slicking them with a bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking further.
• Spoon a bit of sauce on the bottom of a 3-quart baking dish and top with a layer of noodles, avoiding any heavy overlap.
• Top with about 1 ¼ cups of sauce, and dollop ¼ of the cheese mixture over. Top with another layer of noodles and repeat three more times, ending with the last of the noodles (depending on size of the noodle/shape of the baking dish, you may have a few extra noodles) and the last of the sauce. Top with reserved 1 cup mozzarella and more Parmesan, if you like.
• Cover loosely with aluminum foil and place baking dish on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet (to prevent any overflow from burning on the bottom of your oven).
• Bake until pasta is completely tender and cooked through and sauce is bubbling up around the edges, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove foil and increase temperature to 450 degrees. Continue to bake until lasagna is golden brown on top with frilly, crispy edges and corners, another 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly before eating.

EASY LASAGNA RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 12 by 8-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
• Heat a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Crumble in beef and cook and break up beef until cooked through.
• Remove from heat and stir in marinara sauce and vegetable broth (I like to swish the vegetable broth around in the empty jar of marinara sauce to remove any excess, totally optional).
• To assemble lasagna, spread 1/3 of the marinara sauce (about 1 1/2 cups) into bottom of baking dish. Top with 3 uncooked lasagna noodles.
• Spread 1/2 of the ricotta over the noodles using the back of a spoon. Top evenly with 1/2 of the mozzarella (1 cup) and 1/2 of the parmesan (1/4 cup). Top with another 1/3 of the sauce.
• Add 3 more uncooked lasagna noodles then spread evenly with with remaining 1/2 of the ricotta. Pour and spread over last 1/3 of the sauce. Top with remaining 1/2 of the mozzarella and parmesan.
• Cover tightly with foil (you can grease first if the top of the lasagna will be touching the foil so cheese doesn't stick), bake 40 - 45 minutes until pasta is fairly tender.
• Remove foil then continue to bake uncovered 10 minutes, or until lasagna is just tender (not soggy. There will seem to be a little liquid on the sides still). Let rest 5 minutes before slicing. Garnish with fresh basil or parsley if desired.

MIDDLE EASTERN LASAGNA

Steps:

• Meat:.
• Over medium heat in large skillet, heat olive oil.
• Add onion and saute 3-4 minutes.
• Add meat and cook until done.
• Drain grease/fat from meat/onion mixture.
• Add tomato paste, salt, pepper, cumin and allspice, mixing until evenly coated.
• Should be a thickened tomato sauce/paste - cook 3-5 minutes to achieve, if necessary.
• Cheese:.
• In large bowl, combine feta, ricotta, eggs and parsley and stir until blended.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Coat a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with melted butter.
• Line bottom of dish with 4 sheets of phyllo (cover remaining phyllo with damp cloth to prevent drying) and brush with melted butter.
• Spread 1/3 of meat filling over phyllo.
• Spread 1/3 of cheese filling over meat filling.
• Cover with 4 sheets of phyllo and brush with melted butter.
• Repeat layers until meat and cheese mixture is used up.
• Cover with remaining 4 sheets of phyllo and brush with butter.
• Cover with foil and bake 30-40 minutes.
• Remove foil and bake additional 10-15 minutes or until top is golden brown.
• Rest 5-10 minutes before serving.
• Garnish with parsley, if desired.
• Note: Can be made a day ahead -- cover and refrigerate overnight and bring to room temperature before baking.