ChapterZero

I love pasta, and among pasta dishes, lasagna holds a special place in my heart. It has almost all the basic food groups: meat, tomatoes, cheese, and pasta, but not potatoes. Last night I experimented with an almost cheese-free lasagna that turned out quite tasty. Instead of ricotta, I used the spicy basil pesto from a vegetarian lasagna recipe– but no tofu for me! I intend to revisit this recipe often, so I’ve recorded it below for posterity.

I was pleased with the performance of the ground beef. My mother always substitutes ground turkey in any recipe that calls for ground meat, so I’ve been conditioned to do so in all my cooking, but the ground turkey at the store didn’t look as appetizing as the beef. It turns out that ground beef crumbles *a lot* better than ground turkey– usually I have to vigilantly break apart clumps as ground turkey browns, and even then, when the meat has cooked, it is clumpy enough that you can see the pattern from the meat grinder. Also, ground beef is much juicer.

I’ve started reading the Necroscope novels, which are set in Romania, so Hungarians are mentioned a couple of times, which has rekindled my desire to try my hand at goulash. Not a traditional goulash, something in the bastardized American style, like Paula Deen’s. That shall be my next experiment.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. canola oil
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 head of garlic, crushed
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
24 oz. crushed tomatoes, strained

2 cups rehydrated dried mushrooms
6 oz mozzarella
9 cooked lasagna noodles

for the pesto:
1 large bunch of basil, stemless
1 cup parsley, stemless
1 large jalapeno, seeded
2 cups raw unsalted pine nuts
2 heads of garlic
2 lemons, juiced
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:
First make the pesto:
1. Roast the pinenuts in a skillet with a small amount of oil at high heat until they’ve browned noticeably (but not blackened!)– maybe a
couple of minutes.
2. Chop the jalapeno into small pieces
3. Puree the lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper, herbs, garlic, pine nuts, and jalapeno.
4. While still pureeing, slowly incorporate the olive oil.
Now set the pesto aside and work on the meat and tomato sauce:
5. Saute the onions and garlic in the oil until the onions are almost translucent.
6. Add the beef; halfway through the browning process, add the dried herbs
7. As soon as the beef has completely browned, add the tomatoes and simmer for a short while, just enough to incorporate flavors, but not enough to overcook the meat.
8. Spray your 9×13 lasgna pan and put down a layer of 3 noodles, then a layer of the meat mixture– this will be the only layer of meat, so make it count, but reserve a little of the mixture for the top–, 3 more noodles, a layer with the mushrooms and mozarella, spread this over with the pesto, then finish with a third layer of 3 noodles. Use the reserved meat mixture to coat the top layer of noodles; this will keep it from drying out.
9. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or so.

Possibly relevant posts:

• Potato, Chicken, Turkey pastrami barbecue hash (1/21/2010)
• Goat cheese, arugula, and chorizo (9/14/2008)
• My favorite tuna recipe (2/7/2007)