Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Spicy Olive & Sun Dried Tomato Lasagna

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Spicy Olive & Sun Dried Tomato Lasagna
Hands on time: 1-1 ½ hours
Baking time: 40 -60 minutes
Rest time: 10 minutes

Serves 10 (ingredients are for 14”x7” oven-proof deep dish pan)

Ingredients:
Pasta:
We did have some extra sheets that Joanna put in the freezer for another day or perhaps some manicotti or canelloni.
3 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
Pinch of salt

Filling:
3 cups Marinara Sauce
2 cups spicy Kalamata olives, (use everything but the cheese) pitted and coarsely chopped or sliced
½ cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
½ - ¾ cup fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
2 cups Mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated
5oz/140g goat cheese (this instead of Bechamel - amazingly rich and creamy)
½ cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 cups cottage cheese, drained

Directions:
Pasta:
1. In a large bowl, make a well of the flour and break the eggs in the center. Incorporate the eggs into the flour, mixing with your hands (at least, that’s what we did, but a fork would work too) until it sticks together.

2. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is a well formed and all the flour is incorporated. The dough should not be sticky. Separate into 3 balls, cover with a damp cloth or loosely cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes or so. (I don’t really remember how long we left it, to tell the truth…but not very long)

3. Flatten the first ball and pass it through the pasta maker as directed. Let the sheets dry for …. Honestly, we didn’t wait very long. We just laid them on a lightly floured table and when we were done preparing the pasta sheets, we started to assemble the lasagna starting with the ones we prepared first.

Lasagna:
1.
Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C

2. Layer as follows:
Thin layer of sauce
Pasta sheets (cut to the length of your pan) spread to cover the bottom
Thin layer of sauce
Half the basil and half the mozzarella
Pasta sheets
Thin layer of sauce
Spicy olives
Cottage cheese
Parmesan cheese
Pasta sheets
Thin layer of sauce
Goat cheese
Sun-dried tomatoes
Rest of the basil
Pasta
Thin layer of sauce
Pasta
Thin layer of sauce
Rest of the Mozzarella cheese
Rest of the Parmesan cheese
(*The idea is for the lasagna to reach but not run over the top of the dish. Our lasagna pasta sheets were really thin so if you’re using store bought, you might not need as many layers. Just make sure to end with the sauce, and cheeses.)

2. Bake for 40-60 minutes. It’s ready when the sauce bubbles around the edges and the top layer of cheese is melted and golden.

3. Remove from the oven and let it rest, uncovered on the counter/table for 5-10 minutes. That allows the sauce and cheese to firm up a bit before cutting into the lasagna and yet still be hot.

Serve with a Caesar salad and some crusty bread and you have an amazing meal.

1 comment:

test it comm said...

This lasagna sounds really tasty!