Lasagna Rolls - Stuffed Pasta, Part III

Those of you who have been following along have noticed my travails with stuffed pasta.    It began when I splurged on a lovely All-Clad lasagna pan.  Then I ran into a sale of Barilla pasta (my favorite) lasagna noodles and jumbo shells.  Kismet!  So I made lasagna.

It was delicious, but it was not at all attractive.

Then I made stuffed shells.  What a pain to make.  Again, delicious, but, again, not attractive.

Then it was Betsy to the rescue!  I hope everyone has a Betsy in their life.  If it happens in the kitchen, Betsy has probably done it.  If an attempt fails, Betsy can usually identify why.  If I don't know what to do next, Betsy has an idea.  It was Betsy who suggested lasagna rolls.

So I cooked a complete package of lasagna noodles, boiling them for about 10 minutes.  I use a huge steamer pot.  And by inserting the noodles one at a time, they don't stick together.  When they are done, replace the cooking water with cool water and leave them until you are ready to assemble.

The filling is 32 ounces of ricotta, two eggs, 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella, about 1/3 cup of freshly grated locatelli, lots of parsley, some basil, black pepper, and nutmeg.

 Work on a cookie sheet (to avoid messing up too much of the kitchen!). Lay out 6 noodles (there are around 18 in a box).  Put on some cheese, then add tomato sauce (mine is made with sausage, ground beef, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes and our own tomatoes, herbs, spices, cheese, garlic).

Put some sauce in the bottom of the pan.

Then roll each noodle and place in the pan.

When they are all in the pan, add some more sauce, and bake, covered, at 400º for about an hour.

Then uncover, add more sauce, and mozzarella and bake for 10 minutes more until the cheese is melted.

Thanks, Betsy, for the suggestion that I try this.  It's much neater and more attractive. As my sister pointed out, it helps with portion control.   Also, you can serve it right out of the oven for those who like it hot.  With regular lasagna, you have to wait or it will go slip, sliding.  This holds its shape even when it's hot.  And with the same ingredients, it is delicious.  

All-Clad Lasagna Pan with Two Oven Mitts

We have a roasting pan, but it has paint or something and is beginning to flake, so a new one seemed advisable.   

I have been very pleased with my All-Clad pots and pans, so when I found a deal on this lasagna pan, I jumped on it.       

The All-Clad pots are great - but heavy!

This one weighs 5 1/2 pounds empty!

So I made lasagna.

The sauce is from tomatoes we canned from our heirloom tomatoes.

To that I added our garlic, basil, parsley.

The more meat the merrier  -  this one has chicken, ground beef, hot sausage.

Also lots of parmesan.

I used Barilla lasagna noodles, Cabot mozzarella, Galbani ricotta with eggs and parsley.

When we were growing up, we never had lasagna.

Father considered it a leftover garbage food.

We had one or more pasta meals each week, but never lasagna.

Well, I guess I agree with my father.

Although this tastes really good, it looks unappealing.

It's a lot of work, and it is probably not worth it.

Combine those ingredients in different ways!

But I do have a lovely pan!