Pasta Pasta

Here's a quirky little lasagna done in a slow cooker. The deal was to not have it heavily sauced. I mixed spicy italian sausage with the beef to add some kick (as well as ground red pepper). FInely chopped a large onion and added it to the meat mix, as well as some minced garlic (3 cloves), and browned it nicely in a pan. Next, added a 24 oz of sauce (my international market has some specifically designed to be baked/cooked for extended time), oregano and ground red pepper to taste, mixed thoroughly and then reduced heat.

The cheese mixture is a blend of shredded mozzarella, ricotta and freshly grated parmesan. Typically, the mix is about 4 cups mozz, 1 1/2 cups ricotta and 1/2 cup parm. I adjusted to about 2 cups mozz, 3 cups ricotta and 1 cup parm. This is a personal choice and a calculated tactic to offset the reduction in red sauce by using a heavier mix of ricotta. The added parm was just because it looked damn good. I confess at this point that I actually licked the empty cheese bowl like you might after making cookie dough. Sue me.

Now take a package of lasagna noodles (8 oz or so) and get ready to tier up. Base of red sauce mix, layer of noodles, layer of cheese. Repeat as needed, about three times. I reduced the amount of sauce used by going progressively lighter with each layer, such that when I put the final touch of red sauce over the top, it was more a thin veneer (that I mashed into the cheese) than a coating.

The other help here is the mechanism of the slow cooker to help the concoction stay moist, despite the lesser amount of red sauce. Cover it up, cook on high setting for an hour, then reduce to low and continue cooking for up to two hours...until noodles are tender.

If you have whiny, nitpicky sort of friends and family (you know who you are!), reserve some red sauce and it can be added to individual servings.

On the side, I put together a quick and stupendous salad. Pear, arugula, and endive...a combo I'm fond of. For dressing, I took whisked together red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, parsley, olive oil, mustard and a touch of sesame oil. Tossed pecans over the top. I considered dry sauteing the pecans with cinnamon or sauteing with some butter and then coating with honey, but ended up going raw.