Lasagna Roll Ups 2 Ways

In my last post, I shared my favourite lasagna recipe. It was from a Better Homes & Garden recipe book circa 1950's-ish. I mentioned that this was my go to recipe. While poking around on Pinterest, I came across the idea of deconstructing the traditional lasagna and rolling it up. Some recipe authors suggested that it takes less time, but in the end, I discovered there is very little time saved, except for 15 minutes of standing time. That being said, it is a lovely presentation and a refreshing change from the typical squares of lasagna, plus these rolls make portion control easier!

I knew last week that I wanted to do a post on the vegetarian lasagna rolls that I made, but because I made my lasagna rolls were made from some odd and ends in my freezer, I wanted my readers to have both a meat option and a vegetarian option. Hence the reason for posting my Mom's Lasagna recipe first!

I had almost 2 cups of my vegan Bolegnese sauce in the freezer, of course in a 500 ml mason jar. (BTW, this sauce freezes beautifully too.) This was the "meat" filling in my lasagna rolls. Unfortunately, I did not have enough Bolognese sauce to ladle under and over the lasagna rolls before baking, so I needed on additional sauce. Fortunately, I also had about 3 cups of my marinara sauce in the freezer.  Since my marinara sauce is also flavoured with similar herbs as the Bolognese sauce, it would pair nicely.

I thawed both sauces (over night in the refrigerator) and brought them to a simmer in order to make sure that there was no excess liquids in the sauces, about 20 minutes or so did the trick. Since I wanted the marinara sauce to be fairly thick, I added 4 teaspoons of chia seeds so soak up an extra liquids - shhhhh "hidden healthy"!

Cook 8 lasagna noodles as per package directions – I used whole wheat.

I then mixed together

2 1/2 cups cottage cheese (about 3/4 of a standard container)

1 egg

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese 

2 Tbsp. parsley, chopped (fresh if you have it, but dried works just fine)

Several grinds of pepper

I grated a 3 inch piece of Mozzarella cheese (from an 460 gram bar)

Take 9x13" baking pan and ladle enough marinara sauce onto the bottom. My pictures show and 8x8", which only fit 6 rolls. I had to use an small one for the extra 2 rolls. Oops! Learning curve alert... 

ASSEMBLY:  

Following my tried and true rhyme, with the crazy beat and a dance if you like --> Noodles, Cheese, Mozzarella, Meat ...

and then roll up and place the roll in the baking dish, seam side down.

Continue until all 8 rolls are done.  

Pour the remaining marinara sauce over the rolls so they don't dry out while baking.  

I covered with foil and baked at 375° F for 25-30 minutes. If you make ahead and take out of the refrigerator, I would probably bake it for an additional 15 minutes to make sure everything is cooked through. You should see the sauce bubbling.  Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes or so, while you get any side dishes finished off.

As you can see my first run through with lasagna rolls was essentially made with leftovers from my freezer.  If you don't have these leftovers available, I would recommend using my favourite meatless Bolognese recipe from the Veggieful.com blog for the filling and the topping if you want a vegetarian version. I would add 1 more heaped teaspoon of dried basil to the sauce though if you don't have any fresh. If you want a meat filling (all meat or lightened up with the green lentils and mushrooms) I highly recommend the meat filling from my Mom's Lasagna. For either recipe, I would be happy to answer any questions about measurements or techniques.

Feel free to freeze any extra sauce in a mason jar or two. Don't forget to leave at least 1 inch of headspace. Save the extra sauce for lasagna rolls for 2 or add to your favourite pasta for a quick meal. I have a sneaky suspicion that the full recipes for either sauce will end up leaving you with quite a bit of leftovers. Waste not want not!   

 

PS. If you use the Bolognese recipe, you will see that it calls for 120 grams of the extra firm tofu, which is about half a brick for the brands that I buy in my grocery store (these are 350 gram bars). As this is the case, I always double the recipe, freeze the extras so that I can have almost ready meals when I'm pressed for time.  Who needs takeout?

Mom's Lasagna

This is Part 1 of 2 for lasagna!

I LOVE lasagna! It was a comfort food from my childhood, and although it was not my mom's favourite, it certainly ranked high in tastiness for us kids, so she made it frequently despite the fact that lasagna is not a ready in 30 minutes kind of meal, primarily due to the preparation of the various components. Now that I think about it, despite the rather time consuming preparation process, lasagna really was a convenient make ahead meal for a busy family of 6 because it could be made several days in advance or or it could be frozen, thawed and then cooked when required! More importantly, junior cooks, like myself when I was 10, could get dinner ready by popping it in the oven and making a side salad.  It is also a great potluck dish... Easy to take to a gathering and it is always a welcomed dish on a buffet table! What more could you want in a casserole type meal?

I adored mom's recipe and still do. It was from a Better Homes & Garden recipe book circa 1950's-ish. To this day, this is my go to lasagna recipe. Of course, I have tinkered a little with it with great success! The nice thing about this recipe is that I don't find it especially rich or heavy, primarily because I tend to use less mozzarella than called for and the wonderful tomato and basil flavour shines through too. Yes sir-we, this is a satisfying and tasty recipe!

Mom's Lasagna

1 lb lean ground beef

1 clove garlic, minced (I use 2 or 3 depending on the size)

1 tbsp. basil

1 tsp salt

1 large can plum tomatoes

2 cans (6 oz.ea.) tomato paste (I use 1 large 13 oz can)

8 lasagna noodles (I use whole wheat)

2 eggs (I use happy chicken eggs)

3 cups cream-style cottage cheese (I use organic 2%)

1/2 cup grated parmesan

2 tbsp. parsley flakes.(fresh is nice but not mandatory, dried or frozen work)

1 tsp salt (I use sea salt or Kosher)

1/2 tsp pepper

1 lb mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly ( I use my cheese slicer, on thinnest setting and slice enough cheese to neatly cover the surface of the lasagna 6-8 slices depending on the width, maybe 1/2 lb?)

In a large skillet, brown the meat slowly; spoon off excess fat. Add next 5 ingredients. Simmer uncovered 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Cook the noodles according to package instructions in large amount boiling salted water till tender; drain and rinse. Set aside.

Beat eggs. Add parsley, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to eggs. Set aside. 

ASSEMBLY:  Layer half the noodles in a 13x9x2 in. baking dish; spread with half the Ricotta filling; add half the mozzarella cheese and half the meat sauce. 

Repeat layers --> My little rhyme to remember ... cha - cha - cha and said with a funky little beat... Noodles, Cheese, Mozzarella, Meat!

Bake in a 375° F oven for about 30 minutes (or assemble early and refrigerate ahead of time; bake 45 minutes). Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with a green salad and pass me a slice of garlic bread!

This lasagna can be double wrapped in foil and frozen for a month or 2. Thaw in the fridge over night and bake as directed.

RECIPE TWEAKS
Things I have done to tweak this recipe to add a little more healthy and to make this dish a little more budget friendly includes combining 1/2 pound of ground beef, 1 cup cooked green lentils and 8 ounces of finely diced mushrooms, white or cremini when making the sauce. This is a good way to increase the plant-based content AND make the the "meat sauce" a little more budget friendly.  I also use organic cottage cheese and eggs; but sadly, I have yet to find organic blocks of cheese in my local stores.  One of these days, I am going to try 2 flax eggs in the cottage cheese mixture; a little more omega 3 would be a plus since the lasagna is already loaded with protein.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

Yes, lasagna is a little heavy in the saturated fat from the meat and the cheese, but that doesn't mean you can't have it. Take a smaller piece and load up 2/3 of your plate with a mixed green salad with some amazing toppings like red and yellow bell peppers, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower florets and a few pumpkin seeds. YUM! If you aren't in the mood for salad, a medley of your favourite steamed veggies would be lovely too - broccoli and cauliflower together or a big stack of asparagus or green beans!

KITCHEN TIP

Whenever I cook a tomato based sauce that needs to simmer for any length of time, it drives me crazy to be wiping up little splatters of red sauce from EVERYWHERE ! I used to use a metal mesh splatter guard which worked quite well.  Eventually, that gave up the ghost and my hubby bought me the silicon version. It did the job admirably as well, but it has started to tear near the rim. Apparently, this splatter guard's days are numbered too.  

As they say, "necessity is the mother of invention", and I believe I came up with the perfect solution. It requires spending no money (YAY for me) because the solution to containing the tomato sauce splatter is already in my kitchen!  See below, my pot of bubbling tomato sauce. If unprotected, my beautiful backsplash (that my handy husband installed) will soon be covered and splashes of red! Fear not, help is on the way! 

Tada! Another use for my metal sieve.  

I wouldn't be inclined to try this with a plastic one because it would probably melt, but this stainless steel one does an excellent job. I might not be replacing my splatter guard after all! WOW... save money, don't buy what you don't need, and make do with what you have on hand... wallet friendly AND eco-friendly, what more could a budget conscious, eco-holic girl want?

Watch for Part 2 of this post which will feature Lasagna Roll Ups!