We're going to make a skillet lasagna
that is easier to make than a traditional lasagna.
I started with some onion in olive oil of course.
I'm going to add the beef and sweet sausage.
One pound of beef and a half a pound of sweet sausage
or you can use plant-based ground meat substitute
and plant-based sweet Italian sausage.
We're gonna break that up and let this cook out
and I'm gonna season this with a little red pepper
because the sausage is sweet.
I didn't buy hot sausage 'cause I like the fennel
and a little oregano or margarine.
Now, when we use dried herbs,
remember to just give them a little crush
to kind of wake them up
from their sleepy time nap in the jar
and I seasoned the onions to get their juices flowing
because salt draws out liquids
but now I'm going to season the meat
'cause I didn't season the ground beef at all.
So as we cook, we add our layers of flavor
with each addition to the pan.
We already have the lasagna noodles
and I went with a traditional
Italian American lasagna noodle with the curly edges.
We par-cook them for five minutes in salted water
and then I cold shock them.
I put them into a cold water bath
to stop the cooking process.
It's very important that you do that
so that the pasta doesn't taste gummy
or overcooked when you're done.
You can also break up and substitute no boil lasagna.
So for the meat, we're going to add our garlic last
so it doesn't bitter.
Stir that together.
Once the meat browns, give it a little drink.
Give it some nice spicy red wine.
In the bowl, we're going to take our fresh ricotta,
sheep or cow's milk.
If you use sheep's milk, you should use Pecorino cheese
because Pecorino Romano is made from sheep's milk cheese.
If you use cow's milk ricotta,
you should use Parmigiano-Reggiano, the king of all cheeses,
because it's cow's milk
then we're going to throw in a bunch of fresh thyme,
a little lemon zest and a little nutmeg
and of course our spinach.
Here we go.
I put the defrosted chopped frozen spinach
into a kitchen towel and I use the kitchen towel
to wring out all the excess liquid
and then we add that to the ricotta
and we have our cheese and spinach layer.
Now, we need the tomato sauce
that we're going to add the meat to some of it
and use some of the plain tomato sauce
on the bottom of the pan.
So one jar of passata which is tomato puree
from ripe raw tomatoes but tomato puree works fine too.
The little boxes of Pomi
or you can get tomato sauce in a can.
That's fine too.
You need about three cups total or 24 ounces.
One can of little cherry Italian tomatoes
or San Marzano tomatoes for texture.
A little splash of stock, beef or chicken
and a few leaves of torn fresh basil.
We took the tomato mixture which never gets cooked.
It's just raw.
We put some naked on the bottom of the pan.
This is the same skillet we browned the meat in.
We took the meat and the onions
then you add it to the leftover plain tomato sauce, okay?
So now it's meat sauce.
I added plain sauce, a layer of pasta, half of the meat
then half of the spinach ricotta mixture, more pasta.
I'm doing it all over again.
This is exactly what happened on the bottom of the pan.
So we have a layer of the pasta,
a layer of our meat and tomato sauce,
the rest of your spinach and ricotta
and you're just gonna have to gently work it
with your fingertips to scatter the ricotta around the dish.
You make a nice little cap with the rest of your pasta
and I like it all jagged and going all different directions
so that the edges of this pasta get crunchy and crisp.
I was saying to my friends earlier
I feel so depressed when I go home and cook
'cause no one finds anything that I do
even remotely interesting there.
They're just like, whatever, she lives in there, it's fine.
So then you put this back in the oven of course.
Let it cook through, brown the cheese.
(applause)
Oh.
(applause)