Stove Top Lasagna

Stove Top Lasagna

I made a triple batch of this for dinner for our community group tonight.  It's an easy way to have all of the flavors of lasagna without quite as much work, and without having to use your oven during the hot New Orleans summer.  The results are delicious!  The red sauce on it's own will taste a little spicy  from the red pepper flakes, but once it's combined with the pasta and cheese you will hardly notice the kick.

-1 lb bowtie pasta, fusilli, campanelle, or cavatappi, cooked al dente (reserve a ladle of the pasta water before draining)
-1 Tbsp olive oil
-1 lb ground beef or italian sausage (I used some of each since I tripled the recipe)
-1 onion, diced
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp black pepper
-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
-1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
-1 cup beef broth
-1 Tbsp sugar
-1 tsp Italian seasoning
-1 28 oz can tomatoes... diced, sauce, or crushed depending on your taste (since I tripled the recipe I used 1 of each)
-1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
-1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Heat a large pot over medium high heat, add olive oil.  Cook the meat and onions, until the meat is cooked through (about 5 min).  Drain of excess fat.  Return the meat/ onion mixture to the pan, add the garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and saute until fragrant (about 20 seconds).  Stir in the Worcestershire, beef broth, sugar, Italian seasoning and tomatoes.  Simmer for at least 5 minutes, the longer the better.

Place ricotta cheese in a bowl, add the reserved ladle of pasta water and stir to combine.  Stir in the Parmigiano-Reggiano.  Toss the pasta with the cheese mixture.  Add the meat sauce to the pasta and stir to combine.

Shannon