American Style Lasagna

Let me be perfectly clear: I love Brazilian cuisine. A good moqueca, an amazing pudim, BBQ’d  liver – all of it. Yum.

But nasty knock-offs (compared to my experience)? … no thank you.

In this case I am referring to the Brazilian version of lasagna. It’s too slippery-creamy and has a layer of sliced ham. No, no, no.

Give me my momma’s lasagna any time (every time).

Here’s a recipe for a corn-fed US Midwestern lasagna that put the MAN in Manwich. Your Brazilian friends will be a bit confused at first, but it will win over the more open minded.

I recently made this in a small portion for just the two of us, so you may want to double things.

Ingredients:

The sauce -
1 good size onion, chopped
several cloves of garlic, minced
300 grams ground meat (more or less)
some mushrooms (I find the dried varieties here of a better flavor than the jarred buttons)
fresh basil
a pouch of tomato sauce
3 fresh tomatoes
salt and pepper

The main event -
6 lasagna noodles
200 grms Ricotta cheese (smooth)
200 grms Mozzeralla cheese, grated
1oo grms Parmesan cheese, grated
one egg

Procedure:

Brown the ground meat (add some canola oil if things are too dry), add the chopped onion and cook until the onion is clear. Add the minced garlic and chopped mushrooms. Cook a bit. Then add the tomato sauce and simmer. You may want to add some water – a little bit – to give it enough liquid to evaporate but still be fluid.

I like to take the skin off the fresh tomatoes before adding them to the sauce. Do this by boiling a pot of water, add the fresh tomatoes to boiling water and par-boil them until the skin splits (maybe a minute longer). Then remove the tomatoes from the water, and plunge them into a bath of cold water. When it is safe to touch them, simply peel off the skin. Then core the tomatoes, chop ‘em up, and add them to your sauce.

Add your spices and let it simmer for as long as possible, one hour is good, but you can get away with just 20 minutes or so. Add water if things are getting too dense.

Now boil a pot of water for your noodles. The trick for a dry lasagna (not one that spills all over your plate) is to NOT fully cook your noodles. Just cook them for a couple minutes, let them remain firm and under-cooked. They will finish their cooking while surrounded by your sauce in the final product. It makes the noodles taste better (they absorb your sauce) and they will absorb the excess liquid that can sometimes make your lasagna runny.

Beat one egg into your ricotta cheese. This will also help hold everything together

Assemble your lasagna by placing about  ½ cup of your sauce in the bottom of the Pyrex you are using. Then a layer of noodles, then a layer of ricotta, then a layer of sauce, then a layer of mozzarella. Repeat this. Finish with a layer of sauce. Then on top sprinkle your grated parmesan cheese.

Put this wonderful creation into a hot oven - 375 degrees or so - for about 35 minutes. Watch that the top does not brown too much. But a little crisp is good.

Pull it out, let it set a few minutes, then please your family.

Note: I had a lot of extra sauce, which we will reuse for pasteis or  panqueca. No worries.