Ingredients
- 10 lasagna noodles, broken into bite-size pieces (square shape seemed to be about right)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb mild or spicy italian sausage, casings removed (I used ground beef; also good)
- ½ large onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup hot water
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 2-3 oz fresh parmesan cheese, grated (non-fresh is fine too)
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese, cubed
- Ricotta cheese, to taste (or cottage cheese if you don’t like Ricotta, but whatever)
- Fresh basil, chopped (short ribbons are good)
Instructions
- Start by breaking 10 sheets of lasagna strips into bite-size pieces (square shape seemed to be about right).
- In a skillet (high pan, pot, whatever you have with a lid), heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering and add 1lb of mild or spicy Italian sausage (with the casing removed). Brown the meat and mash-up until every piece have a nice color and the centers are slightly pink.
- Remove the sausage from the pan and allow it to drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Then using the leftover sausage fat, saute ½ large chopped onion for 3-5 minutes until softened and the edges begin to turn translucent. Add 2 crushed cloves of garlic, an optional teaspoon of red pepper flakes and toast together for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.
- Pour in a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes and add the Italian sausage back into the pot along with ½ cup of hot water.
- Bring to a simmer and add in the 10 sheets of broken lasagna noodles. Fold each noodle into the tomato sauce so every noodle gets coated. Top with an additional 8 ounce can of tomato sauce. Mix everything together.
- Bring back up to a simmer and cover. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Slowly cook the pasta for 20 minutes or until the noodles are fully cooked. Stir every five minutes to make sure the noodles aren’t sticking to the pan or each other.
- Once the noodles are cooked, generously grate 2-3 ounces of fresh parmesan cheese on top and add 8 ounces of full fat, low-moisture cubed mozzarella. Stir so that the cheese is evenly distributed.
- After everything is mixed together and evenly spread out, dot the surface of the pasta with mounds of ricotta cheese.
- Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let the heat of the pasta melt the cheese until ready to serve (for me it needed a few more minutes with heat to melt the cheese. YMMV). Once it’s finished, garnish with finely chopped basil.
Source from my man Babish: https://basicswithbabish.co/basicsepisodes/onepot-pasta