Noodle Puddingjewish Lasagna Recipes

EASY LASAGNA I

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a large skillet, cook and stir ground beef until brown. Add mushrooms and onions; saute until onions are transparent. Stir in pasta sauce, and heat through.
• In a medium size bowl, combine cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, and eggs.
• Spread a thin layer of the meat sauce in the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan. Layer with uncooked lasagna noodles, cheese mixture, mozzarella cheese, and meat sauce. Continue layering until all ingredients are used, reserving 1/2 cup mozzarella. Cover pan with aluminum foil.
• Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Uncover, and top with remaining half cup of mozzarella cheese. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and let stand 10 to 15 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.

NOODLE PUDDING/JEWISH LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 Spray baking dish with PAM or other non-stick spray. Mix all ingredients together while the noodles are cooking. Add noodles, mix well. Bake for 45-55 minutes in a rectangular glass baking dish. When done, remove from oven and cover with wax paper until ready to serve.

HANDMADE LASAGNA SHEETS

Steps:

• Mound the flour in the center of a large mixing bowl. Dig a well in the center of the mound and add the whole eggs and 5 yolks. Using a fork, beat together the eggs and begin to incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim of the well. The dough will start to come together in a shaggy mass when about half the flour is incorporated.
• Use your fingers to continue to mix the dough. Press any loose bits of flour into the dough. If needed, add another egg yolk or a tablespoon of water to absorb all of the flour.
• Once the dough comes together into a cohesive mass, remove it from the bowl and transfer it to a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough by hand until smooth, elastic and uniform in color, 4 to 5 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic and set aside at room temperature for at least 30 minutes (or up to 4 hours).
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly dust with flour. Set aside.
• Cut off a quarter of the dough. Rewrap the larger portion and set aside. Use the heel of your hand to flatten the small piece of dough into an oval approximately the same width as your pasta machine, about 6 inches wide. Set the rollers to their widest setting and pass the dough through.
• Lay the dough out onto a lightly floured cutting board or countertop and neatly press together into halves, so it's again about the same width of the pasta machine. Feed the pasta through again at the widest setting. Think of these first rollings as an extended kneading. Continue to fold the dough in thirds and roll it until it is smooth, silky and even-textured. Do your best to make the sheet the full width of the machine.
• Once the dough is silky and smooth, you can begin to roll it out more thinly. Roll it once through each of the next two or three settings, adding flour as needed, until the dough is about 1/4-inch thick.
• Once the pasta is about 1/4-inch thick, begin rolling it twice through the next thinner settings. As you roll, lightly sprinkle flour on both sides of the pasta to prevent it from sticking to itself.
• Roll out pasta until you can just see the outline of your hand when you hold it under a sheet, about 1/16-inch thick. (On most machines, you won't make it to the thinnest setting.)
• Cut pasta into sheets, about 13 inches long. Dust the sheets lightly with flour, stack on the prepared baking sheet and cover with a clean, lightly dampened kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining dough.

FRESH LASAGNA NOODLES

Steps:

• Mound flour on a work surface, and make a well in the center. Beat eggs and a pinch of salt in a small bowl, then pour eggs into well. Using a fork, slowly add flour to eggs, incorporating a small amount at a time, switching to hands as dough becomes stiff.
• Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky, about 10 minutes. Cover with plastic, and let dough rest on counter for 1 1/2 hours.
• Cut dough into 8 pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time and keeping remaining pieces covered, dust dough lightly with flour, and feed through a pasta machine's widest setting (No.1). Fold dough lengthwise into thirds, and rotate 90 degrees. Pass through machine 2 more times.
• Turn dial to next-narrower setting. Pass dough through machine twice, gently supporting it with your palms. Continue to roll dough through ever-finer settings, 2 passes each, until sheet is almost translucent (No. 6 on a KitchenAid pasta roller). If dough bubbles or tears, pass it through again, and dust with flour if it sticks. Immediately cut sheet into lasagna noodles: 4-inch squares for individual lasagna or 4-by-13-inch strips for a large pan. Transfer strips to a drying rack for 1 hour. Repeat with remaining dough. (Noodles can be stored, when completely dry and stiff, for up to 1 week.)
• Fill a large bowl with cool water. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook 2 to 3 noodles at a time for 90 seconds. Using a wire-mesh skimmer, transfer noodles to cool water, and swirl a few times. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet until ready to use, placing a piece of parchment or plastic between layers. Use immediately.

EGG NOODLE LASAGNA

Steps:

• Cook ground beef, green onions, garlic and 1/2 teaspoons salt in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, stirring 10 minutes or until it crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain well.
• Stir in tomato-basil pasta sauce and pepper. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
• While meat sauce is simmering, prepare egg noodles according to package directions. Drain noodles. Stir together noodles, ricotta cheese, 1 cup sour cream and remaining 1/4 teaspoons salt until blended.
• Layer half each of egg noodle mixture and ground beef mixture, starting with noodles, in a lightly greased 2-quart baking dish. Repeat layers.
• Bake at 350-degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from oven; sprinkle evenly with parmesan cheese and bake 5 more minutes.
• Let stand 10 minutes before serving.