I grew up helping my father make lasagna. Whenever we had lasagna at our house, we always made two 9x13 inch panfulls and ate it for a few days, or froze extras. It was also a favorite dish to have when company came over. If you are going to go through all that trouble, you may as well make two big lasagnas and get more than one meal out of it. Also, the lasagna noodles fit larger pans better and one container of cottage cheese was always enough for us to make two lasagnas. We always made one meat lasagna and one vegetarian - I did the meatless and my father handled the meat. We would work side by side, I preparing the cheese and sauce, and eating the broken noodle pieces, and my father cooking up the meat. At work recently, I made one really big lasagna in a much bigger pan. It was definitely a different recipe than my father and I always made together, but the techniques were the same and it certainly brought back memories, especially since I didn't have a helper and was making this all by myself.
This lasagna consists of a spicy meat tomato and pepper sauce, four layers of noodles, a layer of cottage cheese mixed with spinach, and a top layer of shredded mozzarella cheese. I like how lasagna can be prepared in advance, stuck in the fridge, and baked shortly before serving. Pictured here is the unbaked version. I also love the layering process and don't find it to be tedious at all, as long as you have all your mise en place in order beforehand.
Fettucini alfredo is a classic, comfort food dish, and it is not too difficult to make either. I recently made a huge batch of it, and it only took me a few minutes. Here is how I did it: I brought a big pot of water to a boil and cooked rotini until al dente. Actually, I did not have quite enough rotini, so I used two-thirds of rotini and one-third egg noodles, which are very close in shape and essentially have the same cooking time. The flavor is similar enough as well. I drained the pasta, then transferred it to a large pan. I then prepared the sauce, making it nice and hot. This was not only an alfredo sauce, but was also flavored with a little garlic, Parmesan cheese, and roasted red pepper. The sauce to pasta ratio depends on your personal preference. Personally, I like enough sauce to coat the pasta and provide flavor, but I do not like when there is so much sauce the pasta is liquidy and you need a spoon at the end of the dish. I stirred in a little chopped, leftover cooked turkey into the sauce at the end, though this is optional. Chicken, shrimp, lobster, ham, or vegetables may be used instead. I then poured the hot sauce over the pasta and tossed to coat. I then like to bake the pasta to ensure it is nice and hot and bubbly, and I usually cover it with foil so it does not dry out. However, for advance preparation it may be cooled then covered and stored in the refrigerator to be baked later or the next day.
