Cheese & Tomato Lasagna

 

Lasagne di Magro

Recipe makes a 9x13 pan of meatless lasagna. Substituting fontina for mozzarella and cottage cheese for the more traditional ricotta makes this dish more flavorful.

Tomato Sauce

¼ cup olive oil

1 onion diced fine

1 ½ tsp sugar

½ tsp red pepper flakes

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp salt

Sautee until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes.

4 cloves minced garlic

6 – 8 fillets of anchovy (to taste). Rinse, pat dry, and chop.

Sautee two minutes (medium heat).

¼ cup tomato paste

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained

1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes

½ cup pecorino Romano cheese, grated

Simmer 20 minutes and set aside.

Cheese Sauce

8 oz cottage cheese

4 oz pecorino Romano cheese, grated

½ cup heavy cream

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 tsp cornstarch

Mix to break up the curds.

Noodles

14 old-fashioned curly lasagna noodles

Soak the noodles in boiling water – lay them in the pan, pour boiling water over. Let sit until pliable, about 15 minutes. Separate the noodles periodically with a paring knife so they don’t stick together. Drain, rinse well to remove excess starch. Place on towels and pat dry.

Assembly

Spray the 9x13 pan with non-stick spray.

1.       1 ½ cup tomato sauce

2.       Noodles

3.       Half of cottage cheese mixture

4.       ½ cup Italian fontina cheese, grated (make sure it is NOT Danish fontina)

5.       Noodles

6.       1 ½ cup tomato sauce

7.       ½ cup fontina cheese

8.       Noodles

9.       Other half of the cottage cheese mixture

10.   ½ cup fontina cheese

11.   Noodles

12.   Remainder of tomato sauce

13.   ½ cup fontina cheese, mixed with 1/8 tsp cornstarch

14.   ½ cup pecorino Romano

Baking

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Spray foil with nonstick spray and cover the lasagna.

Bake 35 minutes.

Increase oven to 500 F.

Remove foil.

Bake additional 10 minutes until browned and bubbly.

Serving

Rest 20 minutes before cutting.

Top with chopped fresh basil.