Big Batch Lasagna

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. 

Lasagna

Lasagna is a special, favourite dish in our house. We don’t make it too often, as then it would lose its special appeal. We often make it for company, as it is a perfected, delicious, crowd-pleaser every time. My mother usually does most of the cooking at our house, but my father is always the one who made the lasagna. Ever since I can remember, I would assist my father in preparing his special lasagna. We always made two 9x13 inch pans of lasagna, that way there would be enough for company and for leftovers for us. One was always meatless, as my brother used to not care for ground beef. I started out by chopping the onion and mixing up the cottage cheese mixture for my father. However as I got older, I would put together the entire meatless lasagna while he made the meat, as well as do a lot of the prep work. Now my father and I work in perfect harmony while preparing lasagna, a tradition perfected over the years. Although we never race, we take our time to put pride into the meal we are creating, I sometimes finish first, and joke to my father that I am beating him. I tell him he better watch out, that I’ll be taking over his kitchen soon, and tell him he is getting slow in his old age. I always treasure the times I spend with my father preparing lasagna together, and I am looking forward to the next time.