Lasagna

My Way Too Much Cheese, Why Is There Vodka In My Italian Food Lasagna

Lunch
Dinner

My Thoughts

This is a big slice of warm, cheesy, comforting, mostly Italian goodness. It's the sort of thing to bake on a rainy weekend afternoon or a cold winter's evening if you get off work early. It is also the sort of thing that I find myself baking as a "I'm sorry for your loss" gift (It's a southern thing) and occasionally birthday lasagna. Also, The Picky Eater approves of it, so there!

While not a traditional lasagna (no bechamel sauce and there's vodka), please don't send the Nonna Mafia after me, it hits all the right notes for me and The Picky Eater.

The How To Do It

  1. Make the vodka cream sauce (recipe follows).
  2. In a large mixing bowl, mix the meats together.
  3. Heat some olive oil (about 1/2 a teaspoon) in a large cast iron skilled over medium-high heat and, once the skillet and oil are hot, add the meat and brown it. You'll want to make sure to get some nice color (dark brown bits) on it to give extra flavor to the dish.
  4. Drain the meat and set it aside.
  5. In another mixing bowl, add the chopped basil, ricotta, eggs, and 1/2 of the Parmesan and mix to combine. You'll also want to add a pinch of salt too.
  6. Preheat the oven to 3750 F and position the top rack of you oven in the middle. You don't want this lasagna too close to the heat.
  7. In the bottom of a 7x11-inch deep-dish (2-inches or more) baking dish, add some of the sauce (recipe follows this one) and coat the bottom of the dish in an even layer.
  8. Next add a layer of noodles. I usually have to break some to fill in the holes. My baking dish has big rounded corners and is not quite the right size. Be better than me. Use the right sized pan. It'll save you time and headaches.
  9. Next add a layer of ricotta and then another layer of pasta. You can add the pasta in the other direction if you want. It will add some stability, but I honestly usually forget and I've never had the whole thing fall over.
  10. Spread more of the sauce over the pasta, then add a layer of meat, and a layer of the provolone and mozzarella.
  11. Repeat steps 8-10 until you have used up all of the ingredients, but make sure that the top layer is pasta and mozzarella.
  12. Back the lasagna for 1 hour and then uncover it. I then usually kick the heat up to around 425/450 degrees F to really brown the cheese and bake for another 15 minutes. FYI, if you do not increase the heat, it will probably get plenty brown but I kind of like the cheese almost burned.
  13. Let the whole thing set and rest for 20-30 minutes before cutting into it. Don't worry, you'll still think the thing came straight from the reactor. It's not going to get cold for what will seem like days.

Vodka Cream Sauce

  1. Heat a medium to large saucepan over high heat.
  2. Add the onions to the pan and cook for 5-10 minutes, or until they start to turn translucent.
  3. Next add the garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Don't let the garlic start to brown. It will get bitter if it browns too much.
  4. Add the vodka and let it cook down until it is reduced by about half. You'll notice the oil/vodka/vegetable mixture will thicken as well.
  5. Add the can of tomatoes and reduce the heat to low-medium.
  6. Next using an immersion blend, blend the sauce until it is the consistency you want (and if you like it chunky skip this step all together). I use an immersion blender because I don't like transferring the contents of a very hot pot to a blender and then back again. You could use a traditional blender but be very careful. Wearing almost boiling tomato sauce is not my idea of a good time.
  7. Next add the dry ingredients, the honey, and half of the chopped basil.
  8. Now add the cream and all but roughly a tablespoon of the Parmesan cheese.
  9. Let the sauce simmer for 20-30 minutes. If you like, you can go lower on the heat and have it barely simmering. This will allow some of the moisture to cook off and the flavors to intensify, but for the most part after about 20 minutes the flavor is there.
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Ingredients

Lasagna
1 qrt
Vodka Cream Sauce
½ lbs
hot italian pork sausage
½ lbs
ground beef
16 ozs
lasagna noodes
16 ozs
ricotta
2 lrgs
eggs
1 cup
freshly grated parmesan
Vodka Cream Sauce
1 onion
white onion
4 cloves
garlic
28 ozs
crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
1 tbsp
granulated garlic
¼ cup
vodka
1 tsp
onion powder
½ tsp
smoked paprika
¼ tsp
cayenne pepper
*or less
1 pinch
dried oregano
*about 1/4 teaspoon
½ cup
Parmesan
¾ cup
heavy cream
½ tsp
kosher salt
½ tsp
black pepper
½ cup
sweet basil
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