Fresh Herb Lasagna Recipes

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.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk the first six ingredients. On a clean work surface, mix all-purpose and semolina flours; form into a mound. Make a large well in the center. Pour egg mixture into well. Using a fork or fingers, gradually mix flour mixture into egg mixture, forming a soft dough (dough will be soft and slightly sticky)., Lightly dust work surface with flour; knead dough gently five times. Divide into six portions; cover with plastic wrap. Let rest 30 minutes., In a small bowl, mix the first seven filling ingredients; stir in 1/2 cup queso fresco. Grease six individual 12-oz. au gratin dishes; place on baking sheets. Preheat oven to 350°., Fill a Dutch oven three-fourths full with salted water; bring to a boil. On a floured surface, roll each portion into a 20x4-in. rectangle, dusting dough with additional flour as needed., For each lasagna, add one noodle to boiling water; cook 1-2 minutes or until al dente. Place one-fifth of the noodle in bottom of a prepared dish; top with 1 tablespoon ricotta mixture and 2 tablespoons tomato. Fold noodle back to cover filling; repeat three times, topping and folding the noodle each time., Sprinkle lasagnas with remaining queso fresco and tomatoes. Bake, covered, 30-35 minutes or until heated through. If desired, sprinkle with additional herbs.

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

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.

Steps:

• Tomato Sauce: Heat deep-heavy sauce pan to medium-high, add oil. Saute onions and garlic until translucent, 5 minutes. Add basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes, stir. Then add carrots and let cook for 3 minutes, or so. Add crushed tomatoes, then cover and let boil until most of the tomato juices cook off, 30 minutes to 1 hour. The longer you let the sauce cook, the richer the flavor. Add sugar and salt, and pepper to taste. Lasagna Noodles: On a granite counter, wooden chopping board, or bowl, add flour. Push the flour to create a wall with a hole in the middle to add the eggs, basil and oregano. Begin to stir the eggs and herbs (with hands of fork) in the middle, then slowly incorporate the flour. After the eggs become a gooey mass, roll up your sleeves and begin to knead until the egg is evenly dispersed throughout the dough, add more flour as needed. Wrap tightly in plastic and let sit for 20-30 minutes. (This will help create a perfect, light pasta noodle). After the dough has rested, cut it into 4 equal pieces or so. In your pasta machine roll our the dough into the pasta sheets, making the noodles as thin or as thick as you like (for my Marrcato Atlas 150, I usually roll it to a size 7 or 8, thats pretty thin!) Measure the noodles to fit comfortable in your baking dish or choice. When making pasta, hang the finished pieces on a pasta rack. Boil in salted water for 3-5 minutes, or until pieces float to the top and have stayed there for 30 seconds or so. At this point, I drain the pasta then let soak in luke warm water until I separate them to layer. Cheese Filling: Mix together all the ingredients until relatively consistent throughout. Salt to taste. Lasagna Assembly: Lay down the first layer of lasagna noodles, then sauce, then cheese. Repeat, letting the top layer be the pasta sauce. Cook for 15 minutes in a 375˚ oven.