One of the things I love about cooking, eating, and sharing food with loved ones is the pull that has on memories, reminding us, and connecting us with a time and place. And, while not all of these memories tug at our hearts and bring a smile to our faces, a lot of them do!
Food is how I say I love you, I’ve missed you, today was hard, I need a hug, feel better, I am here for you, support you, and always take care of you. It’s my love language, when I am at a loss for words, my food will say it all. I am more of a cook than an eater. I love food, but I love watching people enjoy the food I prepare for them more. Lately, I have struggled to find my usual gusto for cooking dinner. I’ve been so tired, emotionally overloaded, and lacking inspiration. These are the times when I return to my memories, those moments that bring me warmth and joy to revisit, and most often revolve around a dinner table.
I have seen everyone posting about the perfect date night, or Valentine’s dinner meal, and it got my sentimental brain churning. Now, I’m not a big Valentine’s girly, do something special for me on any given Tuesday and I’m in. Remember to bring me some wilted flowers on a day demarcated to honor lovers by commercialism….Nah! Wow, am I as cynical as I sound? Not really…I will never turn down celebrating relationships, I just want it to be authentic. These days any little thing is worth celebrating, am I right?
Anyway, back to my dinner love story…this one goes back…like, 16 years back. My husband and I were first dating, and as one does, I was trying to cook him all his favorite things, let’s be real, I’m still doing that, and we decided to make one of his favorite dinners. It may be his all-time favorite, lasagna.
Lasagna isn’t a dish I grew up eating often, usually at someone else’s house. Italian food ran deep in my home, but it was always in the form of fresh pasta with meatballs, mushroom sauce, braciola, pesto, and ravioli, but not lasagna, not that I recall. As a young cook, I didn’t jump onto the lasagna train at first, but over time I would occasionally take on the project of lasagna making.
Lasagna is a project, at least in the way I like to make it. Grant it, I love going over the top in my cooking, and you can find me casually preparing a meal on a weeknight that takes me upwards of 2 hours, but, I am a special beast. I recognize that preparing lasagna properly takes time, and patience and is very labor intensive. You’ve got to make the sauce, the bechamel, the fresh pasta, the ricotta mixture, grate all the cheeses, layer, layer, layer, bake it, and then wait patiently to rest before cutting. Done well, it takes a good portion of a day and evening. But the results are “chef’s kiss!”.
With this particular memory, we decided to take a decidedly different take on the classic lasagna. From the brilliant cookbook “On Top of Spaghetti” by the Chefs Johanne Killeen and George Germon of Al Forno Restaurant in Providence Rhode Island is this delightfully surprising recipe for Toss-and-Tumble “Cheater’s” Lasagna.
I would love to tell you that this lasagna comes together in minutes, and makes a great weeknight lasagna hack, alas, that is not the case. This is much faster than my normal lasagna routine, but still takes a bit of prep to achieve this glorious version. And instead of a 3-4 hour process from start to finish, I can have this beauty ready to enjoy in about 1 ½…half the time! And, the best part is what the recipe achieves, crispy pasta combined with silky pasta underneath, pockets of airy ricotta bites, and gooey mozzarella. Each bite is an exploration of texture, a surprise that is so delightful. This is a master class in creating a fun version of a classic. Sometimes we wonder if we love it even more!
You can make this version even faster should you wish to replace the fresh pasta with store-bought dried lasagna noodles, or store-bought fresh, and your favorite marinara sauce…in my opinion, fresh pasta is the key to amazing lasagna. Skip the sausage for a vegetarian delight, or sub-other ground meats should you have that readily available. Anyway, you serve it up I guarantee it will be a new family favorite.
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