I contemplated if I should share this recipe because it is so quick and easy and you might think that cutting corners, doesn’t belong in a website dedicated to cooking with soul !
However, I think this delivers on maximum taste and minimum effort and therefore this makes it ok to be served in my Soul Kitchen.
Now by all means, you can make your own homemade tomato sauce which I used to do. However, there are some quality pre-made sauces on the market and now I reduce the preparation time substantially, by using Bertolli’s Premium Pasta Sauce instead. I’ve used Bascilico variety as this for me, is seems most like home-made, but to be fair, I haven’t tried the other flavours.
In regard to the lasagna sheets, I’ve used my favourite Gluten Free variety – San Remo. Of course, if you have no issues with gluten, then a fresh lasagna variety would be my preference instead of the dry sheets.
I’ve also used ricotta and cream instead of a Bechamel sauce – primarily to make it gluten free, but again, this cuts down the preparation time considerably and is a little more tasty anyway.
I’ve used foil dishes so that I can freeze into 2 person portions. I’ve found freezing actually helps the GF lasagna sheets to cook better than when I cook it straight up. Therefore, here’s a perfect dish to whip up and pop straight into the freezer to have on hand for a mid-week meal.
My preference is to put baby bocconcini on top, but you could also use grated mozzarella. I’ve also used a grated tasty cheese previously and it was also fine.
INGREDIENTS
800ml of tomato pasta sauce (2 jars)
300ml thickened cream
around 15 sheets of dried lasagna sheets
300g ricotta cheese
parmesan cheese
rind from 1 lemon
1 tub of baby bocconcini or grated mozzarella.
handful fresh basil leaves
METHOD
1. Mix the tomato sauce with the cream into a bowl.
2. Spread some sauce over the base of your oven proof dish / container.
3. Layer some lasagna sheets, spoon over more sauce, and a few torn basil leaves. Grate over some parmesan and a little grated lemon rind (¼ tsp) Scatter a few small dollops of ricotta and top with another layer of lasagna sheets.
4. Continue layering.. I usually use 5 layers of lasagna sheets. Finish with a layer of sauce.
5. Cut boconcini in half and distribute over the top of sauce. Grate more parmesan cheese over the top.
6. Cook at 200c. Approx 45mins if fresh, if frozen keep covered for 30mins, remove cover and cook for another 30mins or until cooked.
Serves 6.
