Like Garfield, I, too, love lasagna. But unlike Garfield, I decided to throw mine a graduation party a let it get a little more sophisticated and grown-up! My creative juices have been missing in the kitchen the last few weeks, hence the decline of posts on here recently. I am not sure if it was the thought of Garfield or lasagna but I got a jolt of excitement when I started working on refining this recipe a couple of months ago.

Here’s how things started: I would add chopped basil, lemon zest, and olive oil to my ricotta for my filling—as I thought about this further I realized I was basically adding pesto. And poof! A thought occurred: make pesto and add it to my ricotta—hello, creativity—how are you?! This got me really excited and the next thing I knew I was making lasagna once a week to perfect my refined and sophisticated lasagna. She’s familiar and new all at the same time! The pesto brings balanced and earthy notes, the lemon adds brightness and freshness, the Hot Italian brings a little heat, the cheese adds plenty of savory, salty flavor, and then the tomato’s acid hits the back of your palate and is like HELLO!! Did I mention I was excited about this recipe?

She’s beauty and she’s grace, she’s lasagna with pesto and spice!

Recipe:

• 1 pound of lasagna noodles

• 15 oz ricotta cheese

• 16 oz of mozzarella, can use fresh or shredded (I cut my fresh mozzarella into halves and then slice into 1/4 inch thick half moons)

• 1/4 cup of parmesan or pecorino for sprinkling on the top layer of noodles

• Pesto

  • 2 cups fresh basil leaves

  • 1/2 cup parmesan or pecorino grated cheese

  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

  • 2 cloves of garlic

  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1/8 cup (or 2 tablespoons) olive oil

• Meat Sauce

  • 1/2 pound ground Hot Italian sausage

  • 1/2 pound ground beef

  • 24 oz jar of your preferred marinara sauce (or if you feeling especially ambitious, try my husband’s amazing sauce recipe is here!)

Method:

1. Let’s kick this lasagna party off with some pesto-making. In a food processor or a blender, add basil leaves, grated cheese, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. Blend until broken down into fine pieces. With a blender or food processor on medium-high speed, slowly pour in olive oil until pesto is smooth and thick enough to coat the back of your spoon.

2. In a medium bowl, add ricotta and pesto together, mix until well combined, and set to the side.

3. Now onto the rest! Add enough water to a large pot for noodles, set on high, cover, and bring to a boil. While you’re waiting for that to boil, let’s work on our meat sauce and preheat our oven.

4. Preheat your oven to 375. Onto the sauce!

5. In a large skillet, add a drizzle of olive oil to barely cover the bottom of the pan (to help with heat transfer from the pan to the meat) on medium-high heat. Once the oil is slightly rippling, add your meats. Do not begin to break up the meat until it has begun to brown—this is to help us get a good sear on our meat, which will help extract more flavor. (Hi, Maillard reaction!). Once the meat is browned, add your jar of marinara sauce. Add about a 1/4 cup of water to the jar to get the rest of the sauce and add to the skillet. Mix together, reduce heat to a simmer and allow the sauce to heat through and reduce slightly.

6. Now for the noodles! Add your pasta to your boiling and salted pot. You want these less than al dente because they’re going to finish cooking in the oven. So I go for a noodle that becomes flexible but not cooked through or tender. So look for them to bend over without breaking and then pull them. Probably within 6-8 minutes. Toss them with some olive oil to keep them from sticking and allow them to cool slightly so your little mittens can handle them.

7. Now assemble! In a 9x13 pan, add a few spoonfuls marinara to lightly coat the bottom of your baking dish. You're going to split your prepared fillings into 4 because that’s how many layers this lasagna has. Add enough noodles to cover the bottom of the pan, then add 1/4 ricotta-pesto mix, spread evenly; now add about 1/4 of marinara sauce. Then add 1/5 of your mozzarella (gotta save some of the top!). Okay now go 3 more rounds: a layer of pasta, ricotta-pesto mix, meat sauce, mozzarella, another round, and then one more! Okay, you’re done—great job.

8. Top lasagna with remaining pasta to cover the filling and add your last round of mozzarella and sprinkle of grated parm or pecorino!

9. Now, this last part is so important because if it doesn’t happen, you can say goodbye to that beautiful top cheese masterpiece you just created. You are going to cover your lasagna in foil for baking, but you’re going to spray one side of the foil with nonstick spray so you don’t lose your cheese topping!

10. Okay now with the sprayed side down towards the cheese, cover the baking dish and place in the oven for about 45 minutes. Allow to bake for 30-35 minutes until starting to bubble. Then take off the foil for the last 10-15 minutes for the top to brown. If you want roasty, toasty you can throw the whole affair under the broiler for a minute to two to really crisp up.

11. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes or you can kiss the roof of your mouth goodbye.

12. Cut with a sharp knife and serve. Makes about 8 servings.