Mini Freezer Lasagnas

"Ahhh... Friday. *sigh*"
How often have we all spoken those grateful words at the end of the work week? Here's my tribute to your Friday evening relaxation; home-made single-serving lasagnas to keep in the freezer.

Throw together a half dozen of these tasty little entrees on Sunday and feel secure in the knowledge that, should you be left with no energy for cooking, you can put one of these genuinely home-made dinners in the oven and have a delicious dinner an hour later.

 You'll need:

1/2 cup chopped yellow onion

1 or 2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons dry thyme leaves

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

 A 16oz can of plain tomato sauce

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/3 cup red wine

Mozzarella cheese

Pepper-jack cheese

15oz container of ricotta cheese

20oz container of cottage cheese

1 whole egg

3 chicken breasts

1/2 turkey smoked sausage

Fresh or store bought no-boil lasagna noodles

1 pack (5) of aluminum mini loaf pans.

For fresh pasta you'll need:

3 cups AP flour

4 whole eggs

1oz oil

appox. 1oz water

 

Contrary to the ingredients list, we'll start with the pasta, if you're making it. I really do recommend making your own. The flavor and texture of hand-made pasta is much better than the dry stuff. 

The best (and most fun) way of making the pasta dough is to put the 3 cups of flour in a pile on a large board, or just right on your clean counter top. Spread it out from the center in to a wide, low bowl shape. Put the four eggs, oil and water in to the bowl of flour.

Use a fork to grab little bits of flour at a time from the inside of the bowl and from around the top and carefully stir it in to the eggs. Be careful not to weaken any spots in the bowl too quickly; take small amounts of flour evenly from all around your flour bowl and mix thoroughly. The more flour that you can mix in before the bowl is destroyed, the cleaner your hands will be for the next step. When a good amount of flour has been mixed with the eggs the bowl will no longer be necessary and you can start to grab larger portions of flour to mix in.

When most of the flour has been worked in and you are able to handle the dough without having it stick to our hands it's time to begin kneading. Incorporate more of the flour as you knead the dough until it's moist and stretchy, but no longer sticky. Then dust the ball of dough will flour, wrap it up in plastic, and let it wait in the fridge.

Heat a very small amount of oil in a sauce pan and saute the onion until it's well browned. Add the dry thyme and stir until it's fragrant. Now add the minced garlic and cook for only around 15 seconds. Never brown minced garlic, blech! Now mix in the tomato paste before the garlic can burn and cook, stirring, until the mixture starts to stick to the pan. Then add the tomato sauce, wine and chopped fresh basil and mix well. Add the chicken, cover and bring the sauce up to simmer.

Gently simmer the chicken in the sauce until it's fully cooked and then take it out and shred it with two forks. The easiest way to accomplish this is to use boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets. However, if you're willing to go to the trouble, split chicken breasts or thighs would add more flavor to the sauce. Just discard the skin and bones after shredding the meat. Return the shredded chicken to the sauce and do any final seasoning. 

Now slice the smoked sausage thinly, brown it in a nonstick skillet, and set it aside in a bowl.

Now prepare the cheeses. Shred the mozzarella and pepper-jack or, for a more rustic treatment, just slice the cheeses and tear the slices in to pieces. In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta and cottage cheeses with one egg and mix well. I like to season mine with fresh black pepper.

Now it's time to roll out the pasta dough. If you've got a pasta roller that's great, roll the dough to about two setting under the thickest. But this can be done just fine with a rolling pin. 

Cut the dough ball in to quarters. Toss the quarters in a bit of flour so they don't stick to everything. With one quarter at a time, roll the dough out as thin as you can, keeping it well dusted with flour to prevent sticking. When it's as thin as you can get it with the rolling pin use a sharp knife to cut it in to rectangles the size of your mini loaf pans. Stack them up (well dusted) and cover them with some plastic wrap.

 

 

And now it's finally time for assembly. Get all of your ingredients together at hand. Spoon a bit of sauce in the pan, only enough to coat the bottom, and place a noodle over it. If your pasta is a little too small you can pull and stretch it to get a better fit. Cover the noodle with more sauce and place a few sausage slices and some mozzarella and pepper-jack on top.

For the rest of the layers, hold a noodle in your hand and place a spoonful of the ricotta mixture right in the middle. Spread the cheese out from the center and cover that side of the noodle completely. Turn the noodle over as you put it in the pan so that the cheese side is down.

Then follows more sauce, sausage, and the other cheeses. You'll be able to fit about four noodles in to each pan. When you've filled a pan, top the last noodle with sauce, sausage, and cheese. Cover each finished pan with plastic wrap right on top and put them in the freezer.

Cook in the oven at 350 degrees for one hour.

I hope you enjoy!

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