The Super Bowl is happening at 5:30 p.m. Sunday (Feb. 6), which means many of us will either host a viewing party or attend someone else’s. Either way, there will be a bunch of people who expect to be fed. One of the best dishes to handle a hungry crowd is lasagna, but making it can be a messy, lengthy undertaking that requires lots of ingredients.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Here are a few things to know that can simplify the process:
1. You don’t have to cook the lasagna noodles before assembling the dish. Really.
2. Use cottage cheese instead of ricotta. It’s cheaper, easier to find, and it’s unlikely anyone will notice the difference (especially if they’ve had a few beers).
3. Buy a good-quality pasta sauce and save yourself the hours of labor and attention it takes to make it yourself.
This easy recipe uses broccoli, but the last time I made it, one of my guests wondered what kind of sausage was in the dish, so I guess nobody much cared that it was meat-free.
See the the complete recipe, with instructions, after the jump:
Easy Lasagna
Ingredients:
- One pound dry lasagna noodles (you’ll have some left over)
- 32 ounces cottage cheese (I use fat-free, but that’s just me)
- One pound shredded mozzarella (buy it already shredded)
- Quarter pound or so shredded Parmesan (not the kind that comes in the shaker can; this is a good time to splurge on the imported stuff)
- One jar or can spaghetti sauce (I like the house brand at Fresh Market)
- Two 14-ounce bags of frozen chopped broccoli, thawed (you can use fresh, but then you have to chop it yourself)
- One egg
- Italian seasonings, salt, pepper
Mix the broccoli, cottage cheese, egg and seasonings in a bowl.
Spread three or four tablespoons of spaghetti sauce (with a splash of water) on the bottom of a 13-inch by 9-inch baking pan. Place a single layer of uncooked lasagna noodles on the sauce (it should hold three full-size noodles lengthwise, then break the end off another noodle to fill the crosswise gap). Spread about one-third of the cottage cheese/broccoli mixture on the noodles. Sprinkle the mixture with shredded mozzarella, then spoon on a layer of spaghetti sauce.
Add another two layers in the same order. If you have extra noodles and/or sauce, pile ’em on if they’ll fit. The final layer should be sauce; top it with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 40 minutes (if the top starts to brown during baking, you can cover it with aluminum foil). Turn the heat off and leave the lasagna in the hot oven for 10 more minutes. Take it out, let it rest for about 10 minutes, then dish it up.