Pellet Fan
All Things Considered => General Discussion--Food Related => Topic started by: BigDave83 on November 12, 2021, 11:02:36 AM
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I guess I am doing Thanksgiving dinner for the GF's family. there will be I believe 12 of us.
I gave her some options. My Thanksgivings have been different cooks since Man dies in 99 and Woman being in an out if the hospital constantly for years until she passed in 08. I usually do a chuck of salmon or shrimp maybe a baked potato and one or two other things. Pretty easy and simple for myself.
I gave her Salmon, a Turkey breast roulade, or Lasagna. She said the family would not eat the salmon, didn't know what the turkey was until I told her, decided on the lasagna. Probably make some bread for garlic bread also.
Probably doing a full steam pan, thinking 4 to 5 layers.
Thinking that would probably take at least 6 jars of bought sauce, till it cooked down some maybe more. Can't imagine it would be that much more work to buy a #10 can of puree some tomato paste and sauce and make a sauce.
Ideas on this, point me to a great sauce recipe, I have been looking at a few for the most part they seem to be very similar.
Also while you are here. Filling, Ricotta, Cottage cheese or a combination of the two. Growing up it was always cottage. I have made it with ricotta in the past, other than it being a bit dryer, either are good for me.
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In the "olden days" we made it from scratch (except using canned tomato sauce and paste). Now you can find bottled sauce that is really good. We start with bottled sauce and add to it.
This way you get your own customized sauce in less time since you can cut down on the simmering time.
The bottled sauce serves as a good starting point, rather than starting from scratch.
As far as cost, the biggest cost for me the last time I made lasagna was the cheese. I found that using bags of pre-grated cheese was cheaper than buying blocks and grating myself.
It is probably a lower quality than block but it tasted fine to me. I used mozzarella, ricotta, romano and parmesan. (We had a friend who used cheddar in their "famous" lasagna recipe. Please don't !!!!)
I have never used cottage cheese. That sounds like something you would use if you do not have access to regular Italian cheeses (or perhaps it's someone's "famous" family recipe).
I used to layer the cheeses on assembly. The last time, however, I mixed the cheeses in a big bowel (per a suggestion from a recipe I found). It worked out better since I could spread the cheese more easily.
It is difficult to spread ricotta on top of another cheese. You end up dropping clumps instead. It also made sense since I was using grated mozzarella. In the past I would slice the mozzarella and make a layer.
I used my largest baking pan and it cost me about 70 to 80 dollars. I remember the cost because I did a special trip to the market to buy the ingredients.
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I can't help other than to say that I do not eat lasagna with ricotta and/or cottage cheese. I am a combo hamburger/ground sausage, red sauce, and pizza type cheeses that are shredded and added per layer. Sorta like Stouffer's style.
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Can't help much either. Always buy pasta sauce.
Never liked cottage cheese, yogurt, or buttermilk (except in buttermilk pancakes).
Always had Ricotta cheese in Lasagna.
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If you have no problem with the sugar and salt in the store bought, they seems to have good flavor to me. For me, real lasagna demands, ricotta mixed with raw egg and spinach!
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Only one way "Make It". It is super simple and you can add what ever you want to the sauce in terms of spices
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I start with jar and add more to it.
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I think on the cottage cheese, it was probably a financial thing as well as cottage was familiar to the farmers and if you liked it it was always in your fridge.
A lot of store bought sauce mentions, I am surprised at that. I do have some jarred sauces I use for spaghetti and such that I like. Probably still need to cook it down some. From a cost stand point I am not sure there is a lot of difference, unless jarred sauce prices have gone up. What I buy at was usually 2 for 5 bucks.
Planned on the eggs in the ricotta, probably not spinach, again I would eat it but the masses would be leery unless I really cut it up fine.
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Always cooked and chopped on the spinach when I mix!
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If you have no problem with the sugar and salt in the store bought, they seems to have good flavor to me. For me, real lasagna demands, ricotta mixed with raw egg and spinach!
This is how my mom taught me! Ricotta, whipped by hand with egg and chopped spinach.
For the sauce go with what taste good to you. If you have a jar sauce you like run with it.
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I think on the cottage cheese, it was probably a financial thing as well as cottage was familiar to the farmers and if you liked it it was always in your fridge.
A lot of store bought sauce mentions, I am surprised at that. I do have some jarred sauces I use for spaghetti and such that I like. Probably still need to cook it down some. From a cost stand point I am not sure there is a lot of difference, unless jarred sauce prices have gone up. What I buy at was usually 2 for 5 bucks.
Planned on the eggs in the ricotta, probably not spinach, again I would eat it but the masses would be leery unless I really cut it up fine.
Growing up when we did get to have lasagna it was always cottage cheese. I think I may like it better that way, but I normally mix cottage cheese and ricotta and some egg so it helps hold together. My favorite brand of spaghetti sauce is made by a company called Mid's. They have a meat sauce that has enough meat in it that you barely need to add ground beef or anything to your spaghetti, but that would be an expensive sauce for your lasagna. It would have the thickness I think your looking for. I would imagine cost wise you would just want to buy a bunch of cans of Hunts pasta sauce. It's less then a dollar a can and just gives you a nice base to do what you want with it. When we were tighter on money I usually bought it and would doctor it up until it was really enjoyable. Mostly I would just dice and cook up some onion and garlic as well as salt and pepper and a nice quality Italian seasoning to get the flavor I was looking for. Before my wife and I had kids we used to eat a lot of spaghetti. Now I have kids that don't like red sauce, my daughter to the point she won't eat pizza that has sauce on it.
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I was really stumped with the cottage cheese on lasagna, so I looked it up. This article calls cottage cheese lasagna a classic mid-west noodle casserole. The article does a great job of explaining the rationale behind it.
https://foxeslovelemons.com/lasagna-cottage-cheese/
Sorry, but I'll stick with the Italian cheeses.
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Hmmmm, I lived in California for 50 years and So Cal for 30 and knew lots of folks who used cottage cheese in lasagna instead of ricotta. Never thought of it as a mid-west kind of thing.
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I grew up and still live in the mountains of SW Pennsylvania. Not really midwest. Could be the writer of the article/recipe is the same she grew up there and figured it was just how it was made in that area.
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In my even cheaper days in California I used Cottage Cheese in place of ricotta man times, it is OK, just not as good for me as the mix!
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Well I asked the GF about making or buying and after answering her questions I decided to start with bought sauce and work up from there. I wanted a 22" blackstone that walmart had on a black friday deal of some sort. I think it will work to put the bakerstone pizza oven one. I think I have been to walmart more this year than I have in previous 12 years combined.
We went and I got 4 pound of whole milk ricotta and will mix in some cottage and eggs, got 3 boxes of noodles so I have probably 4 total. For sauce I found Classico Tomato Basil in 44oz jars, picked up 3 of them.
The thing that really made me think was, as we were heading to the check out they had fresh baked french bread for $1. These were probably 15" or so long and 3" in diameter. I looked at them and said even if they were $2 it would be cheaper to buy 2 or 3 of them for the garlic bread than to make my own, when factoring in time. So not sure what route I will go with that. If I didn't have Dr. appointments for my foot every Wednesday I would for sure just make bread, but they usually take a lot of the morning depending on the appointment time. So that will factor in to that decision.
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I think the fresh made store bought French bread loaves are great for garlic bread. If you wanted to go extra fancy, make it cheese garlic bread!
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I think the fresh made store bought French bread loaves are great for garlic bread. If you wanted to go extra fancy, make it cheese garlic bread!
I sometimes will grate and add some parm in my spread I put on. Or are you talking of topping it with cheese?
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I very seldom make lasagna but I do make a killer pasta sauce. It's a little heavy in prep time but has always been worth it. I normally use dried herbs.
4 Tbs. Olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. Ground beef, extra lean
1/2 lb. Italian sausage, casings removed
1 Tbs. Fennel seeds
1/2 tps. Cayenne pepper
1 Bay leaf
1 Tbs. Fresh parsley, chopped or 1 Tbs. dried
3 Tbs. Fresh basil, chopped or 1 Tbs. dried
3 Tbs. Fresh oregano, chopped or 1 Tbs. dried
1tsp. Dried thyme
1tsp Dried rosemary (ground if whole)
8oz. sliced black olives
2 diced carrots
1 Large onion, chopped
1 Green bell pepper, chopped
3 Stalks of celery, chopped
½ lb. Fresh mushrooms, sliced
4 Cloves of garlic, chopped or minced
2 14 oz. cans Italian plum tomatoes with juices, coarsely chopped
1 14 oz. can tomato sauce
1 6 oz. tomato paste
½ cup Dry red wine
As Req'd Low salt chicken broth
In a heavy skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat, add beef, sausage, Oregano, Basil, Parsley, pepper and Fennel seeds, sauté until meat is brown and cooked thoroughly. Transfer meat mixture from skillet to six quart Dutch oven. Add chopped vegetables to same skillet and sauté until tender. Combine tomato products, vegetables and wine in Dutch oven with meat mixture and simmer for two hours. If additional liquid is required, add chicken broth to obtain optimum consistency. Serve over pasta that is cooked until it is still slightly firm to the bite.
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I think the fresh made store bought French bread loaves are great for garlic bread. If you wanted to go extra fancy, make it cheese garlic bread!
I sometimes will grate and add some parm in my spread I put on. Or are you talking of topping it with cheese?
I am talking about topping it with a layer of something like grated mozzarella.
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Hugh your recipe sounds great. Have you posted it in the recipe section?
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What surprises me about the recipes being mentioned is the lack of cheeses like mozzarella, romano, parmesan, provolone. Kristin mentioned a layer of mozzarella which I think is pretty standard.
It can get a bit pricey but you can find pre-grated options for most of these cheeses that are fairly economical.
Maybe these cottage cheese recipes replace most of the Italian cheeses.
We know an Italian family that runs a winery in Romona. I'll have to ask them what cheeses they use. We picked grapes for them and they fed us lasagna.
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My lasagna always called for the pasta, then meat, then the 3 cheeses...mozzarella, peck/parma, and ricotta blend, repeat! Always felt a 4 layer was just about right. And yes, I did enjoy a 50/50 blend of good GB and my Sweet Italian Sausage!
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I very seldom make lasagna but I do make a killer pasta sauce. It's a little heavy in prep time but has always been worth it. I normally use dried herbs.
4 Tbs. Olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. Ground beef, extra lean
1/2 lb. Italian sausage, casings removed
1 Tbs. Fennel seeds
1/2 tps. Cayenne pepper
1 Bay leaf
1 Tbs. Fresh parsley, chopped or 1 Tbs. dried
3 Tbs. Fresh basil, chopped or 1 Tbs. dried
3 Tbs. Fresh oregano, chopped or 1 Tbs. dried
1tsp. Dried thyme
1tsp Dried rosemary (ground if whole)
8oz. sliced black olives
2 diced carrots
1 Large onion, chopped
1 Green bell pepper, chopped
3 Stalks of celery, chopped
½ lb. Fresh mushrooms, sliced
4 Cloves of garlic, chopped or minced
2 14 oz. cans Italian plum tomatoes with juices, coarsely chopped
1 14 oz. can tomato sauce
1 6 oz. tomato paste
½ cup Dry red wine
As Req'd Low salt chicken broth
In a heavy skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat, add beef, sausage, Oregano, Basil, Parsley, pepper and Fennel seeds, sauté until meat is brown and cooked thoroughly. Transfer meat mixture from skillet to six quart Dutch oven. Add chopped vegetables to same skillet and sauté until tender. Combine tomato products, vegetables and wine in Dutch oven with meat mixture and simmer for two hours. If additional liquid is required, add chicken broth to obtain optimum consistency. Serve over pasta that is cooked until it is still slightly firm to the bite.
I will copy this and try it sometime for just us, it looks pretty tasty. Thank you.
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What surprises me about the recipes being mentioned is the lack of cheeses like mozzarella, romano, parmesan, provolone. Kristin mentioned a layer of mozzarella which I think is pretty standard.
It can get a bit pricey but you can find pre-grated options for most of these cheeses that are fairly economical.
Maybe these cottage cheese recipes replace most of the Italian cheeses.
We know an Italian family that runs a winery in Romona. I'll have to ask them what cheeses they use. We picked grapes for them and they fed us lasagna.
I will be getting probably 2 to 2.5# each of Mozzarella, Provolone and Brick to shred. Will also get some Parm and grate
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Now we're cooking. Sounds like it will be an excellent lasagna.
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All this talk of lasagna gave me the urge, so I made a huge one today, using my largest baking pan. I made one mistake, forgetting to save some cheese to crust on top, but it still tasted great.
I used a mix of ricotta, mozzarella, romano, and parmesan with fresh parsley mixed in. The sauce was a modified tomato basil with ground beef and onions mixed in.
We will eat like kings for the next couple of days.
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I don't make lasagna often, but when we do I will save some for leftovers. I cut it into squares or rectangles after cooked and then refrigerated, wrap in plastic wrap, and put into freezer bags. Pull a serving out at a time from the freezer for a quick lunch or dinner.
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FWIW, I've found that the brand of canned tomatoes has a lot of influence on the final product. don't go cheap, buy the best .