Cheese filling mixture
My Italian mother-in-law taught me her family recipe for the most incredible manicotti anyone has ever had in the history of manicotti. Seriously. The filling is quite easy to whip together and is so light and airy. Since making the homemade manicotti is tedious, I opted for a perfect substitute to satisfy our cravings: LASAGNE! This is a real crowd pleaser in our house and a great way to use Nonna’s manicotti filling recipe. Feel free to use any lasagne noodle you would like; no-boil or boil work just fine. No boil noodles take less effort but the cooking time tends to be little longer. I will give notes for each in the recipe. A very important note about tomatoes: make sure you use a brand that does not contain citric acid!! Trust me, you can tell the difference in a sauce made with citric acid and sauce without. Some Cento products have no citric acid but be sure to read the labels. I use boxed Pomi tomatoes when I run out of the tomatoes that I canned from the summer garden. Pomi is hands down my favorite store bought. The great thing about this recipe is that you can always assemble the lasagne ahead of time and store in the refrigerator to cook at a later date. Buon Appetito!
The finished product
My Son’s Favorite Lasagne
My Son's Favorite Lasagne
Print RecipeIngredients
- Cheese Filling:
- 30-32 oz ricotta cheese (I use 15 oz of whole milk ricotta and 15 oz of skim ricotta but you could use all whole milk if you would like)
- 16 oz fresh skim mozzarella
- 3/4 cup parmesan
- 3/4 cup romano
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley
- 2 eggs
- salt and pepper to taste
- Sauce:
- 2 26 oz boxes of Pomi tomatoes (I use 1 crushed and 1 strained but you can use whatever you would like)
- 4 large garlic cloves (at least)
- salt and pepper to taste
- **peeled carrot and 1/2 an onion- OPTIONAL**
- 1 box of dry lasagne noodles (no-cook or boil- your choice)
- small handful of chopped parsley
Instructions
** Before you start, shred the fresh mozzarella in a food processor and set aside**
Turn your stove on med-low and in a medium pot add 1 tbsp of olive oil and the minced garlic. Be sure to put the garlic in the pot while its cold to avoid burning the garlic. Once, the oil and garlic start to sizzle and you smell the garlic aromatics, cook for about 45 seconds or until golden brown, stirring occasionally to avoid burning.
Pour in your 2 cans or boxes of tomatoes. *For some extra sweetness, throw in a carrot or two and a half of an onion. You will take these out at the end before using the sauce in the lasagne.*
Add a pinch of salt and stir.
Turn up the heat to medium and place cover on to retain moisture.
Bring to a boil then lower heat so that the sauce simmers for about 30 minutes.
** If you are making boil noodles, fill a pasta pot with water and place on high heat**
Now is time for the filling. In a large bowl, mix in the ricotta, shredded mozzarella (I use fresh mozzarella balls and shred in a food processor), parmesan, romano, chopped parsley, eggs, salt and pepper.
** If you're making boil noodles, once the pasta water is boiling, sprinkle in a generous amount of salt and add some olive oil to the water. Gently place the noodles in the boiling water and cook according to the package instructions to make them al dente.**
Turn oven on to 375.
Once noodles and sauce are ready its time to assemble. Spoon in some tomato sauce on the bottom of a 13x9 pan so that the bottom is thinly covered.
Arrange the noodles so that they cover the bottom of the pan. I usually overlap the no-boil noodles slightly after making sure that there is some sauce covering them completely. When using the boil noodles, just lay them next to each other.
Add at least 3-4 giant spoonfuls of the cheese filling and spread out over the noodles.
Pour sauce over the cheese so that it covers completely.
Place another layer of noodles over the sauce.
Repeat the cheese, sauce and noodle layers until you reach the top your baking pan. I usually do about 4 layers. The topmost layer should be noodles.
Cover with tin foil and put in the oven to cook for about 50 minutes- until you see some bubbling in the sauce & cheese and slight browning on the edges.
Take out lasagne and sprinkle with the cheese of your choice (mozzarella or romano) and put back in the oven to cook for about 10 more minutes or until the cheese is slightly golden.
Once the lasagne is cooked, take it out and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
Sprinkle with fresh parsley, cut and serve. Then prepare yourself for some very appreciative kids!!
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