Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Grains: Lasagna!
Every now and then, nothing but lasagna will do. Hot, cheesy, saucy, non-authentic-Italian, North-American-Style lasagna, one million calories per serving. I don’t know why. It’s just How It Is.
I’ve made lasagna with wheat noodles; then, when I discovered I couldn’t eat wheat, I used rice noodles. And they do the job… but sometimes I balk at the idea of consuming that much heat-stressed grain product. Sometimes, grains make me want to curl up in a ball and be comatose for a long time after dinner is through.
What to do?
Get some tubers! Potatoes work beautifully in this application, they’re full of vitamin C – and you don’t have any noodles to pre-cook. That in itself is wonderful.
Potato Lasagna
Ingredients:
3 – 4 large potatoes, thinly sliced
1 pound ground beef, browned
2 to 3 cups spaghetti sauce (home-made, or a store-bought brand with a minimum of preservatives and added Weird Stuff)
2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 to 1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
Method:
1. Spread a layer of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a rectangular baking dish or lasagna pan.
2. Layer remaining ingredients in this order: potato slices (as for scalloped potatoes), sauce, cottage cheese, ground beef, mozzarella cheese) for as many layers as the dish will accommodate.
3. Cover dish loosely with tinfoil. Bake at 350°F for at least one hour. Test for done-ness with knife. When potatoes seem almost ready and sauce is bubbling, remove tinfoil and bake an additional 15 minutes, or until cheese is golden and potatoes are tender.
4. Remove from oven, replace tinfoil and let stand for 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
Think, Read, Cook 
You can use lengthwise mandolined zucchini or get the BIG carrots and use those. They both work really well, though the zucchini tend to disappear unless you cut them thick.
I’ve never tried it with carrots… sounds like it’s be good. Must give that a go. Extra vegetables, yay! 🙂 I’ve thought of doing it with sheet-tofu, too, but figure it might be too thin.
Sounds lovely and my daughter will like it as her husband can’t eat gluten. You don’t parboil the potatoes first! I’m always scared they won’t cook properly.
It’s like with scalloped potatoes. Just make sure you have enough sauce, and they ought to be fine. 🙂 You can parboil the potatoes if you want to reduce the baking time, but the casserole still has to be bubbling to make sure it’s done. Always test with a knife for done-ness.
thanks for the ode to the potato. 🙂
Ode to the Potato
O fine potato, happy spud,
You are a tasty kind of fud.
You lie there in the dirty ground
I dig you up and peel you ’round,
And then I put you in a pot
‘Cause good to eat when raw, you’re not.
I cook you up in many ways –
Roasted and stewed and baked on trays.
Potato, though you starchy be,
You are a groovy veg to me!
😀
First – you made my day. and second – i can only respond with a terrible haiku. 🙂
Humble potato
You let all shine around you
While you are just true
Oh, fantastic – potato haiku!! I love it! 😀
Woah, this is awesome! You have literally changed my life overnight! I will try this for date night this week (my half-Irish wife loves her taters…). How thin do you try to get the potatoes? I recently got a mandolin so can actually produce precisely measured slices!
You go, Dude! The thickness of the potatoes is entirely up to you. I’d say, experiment and see what you like best. Hope it’s a good experience! 🙂
We tried this last night and… it didn’t work so well. I sliced the potatoes 3/16th of an inch with my mandolin and baked for 1 hour, then uncovered for 15 min. Crunchy potatoes. Another 20 min baked- slightly less crunchy. Another 20 min- edible, but barely. I think in the future I will boil the potatoes before putting in the dish. Other than that it was delicious. 🙂
Oh, dear; so sorry it didn’t work so well! Maybe more sauce next time? Or thinner potatoes? Arg! :-p
Lovely bit of poetry that.
Hee-hee! 😀
Is a mandolin that small thing that slices eggs. Of course not judy. That’s much too small. Daft female.
A mandoline is a frame with a blade in it, and an adjustable base, which slices vegetables. Here’s a picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandoline
And there’s nothing wrong with being daft – I’m pretty daft myself! 😀
What on earth is a teflar. Did I get that right. I can forget from looking at the word and getting here. Wow all the countries you have lived in. Where were you born. I’ve been to Thailand and Vietnam and Japan but these were just holidays. Lovely though. I’d love to go to Singapore. For the food and to stay at raffles lol. I can’t even afford the air fare. Oh well a girl can dream.
Not sure what a “teflar” would be myself. Sorry – not sure what you mean. I’ve visited a few countries but I’ve never lived anywhere but Canada. 🙂
Oh. Sorry. Scratch my head. That word was in the article you sent me about the mandolin.
I also said I’d parboil my potatoes. If