easy lasagna

Lasagna is kind of hard to photograph so I hope this photo will do. Last weekend I was handed this recipe and ordered to make it. I complied, finding the whole thing a little too easy and slightly weird (cottage cheese?). Wow, was it good! The last lasagna I made was from Cook's Illustrated, and it took hours to craft. This recipe takes only a few minutes to prepare. The result is a delightfully cheesy lasagna sure to please a crowd.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground meat or sausage
5 oz baby spinach
28 oz can ground peeled tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 eggs
16 oz cottage cheese
4 oz (1 cup) grated parmesan
1 lb (4 cups) grated mozzarella
8 oz no-boil lasagna noodles

10 servings

Directions

Preheat oven to 350º.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions. Cook until translucent and starting to brown (about 10 minutes). Add garlic and cook until soft and fragrant (about 5 minutes). Add meat and cook until it's no longer pink. Add the baby spinach. Once wilted, add tomato sauce and parsley. Bring to a simmer, and then remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add cottage cheese, parmesan, and 3 cups of mozzarella. Mix well.

Spread a 1/2 cup of tomato sauce across the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Apply a layer of lasagna noodles. A little overlap is okay. Spread 1/3 of the cheese mixture atop the noodles, and then cover with a 1/3 of the tomato sauce. Lay another layer of noodles, then half the remaining cheese mixture followed by half the remaining tomato sauce. Repeat once more with noodles, the remaining cheese mixture, and then the remaining tomato sauce. (Don't be alarmed if you don't use all the noodles. Just save them for next time.) Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese on top.

Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

1 1/2 hours