Some have asked for my easy lasagna recipe. It's not really lasagna, since I don't use lasagna pasta. My daughter's call this "Dad's Easy Lasagna" since I can whip it up quick. It's more like a baked ziti than anything else. There are four kinds of cheese in this and the spinach is only added since Michele insisted. If left to our own devices, the girls and I would leave out the spinach.

Here's the recipe.

Dad's Easy Lasagna

1 box (1 lb.) penne pasta
1 jar (24 oz.) pasta sauce
1 tub (15 oz.) ricotta cheese
1 tub (6 oz.) feta cheese
1 bag (8 oz.) shredded parmesan cheese
1 bag (16 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup chopped spinach

The main prep is cooking up the penne pasta in boiling water until it's cooked. This is the longest part of prep.

I also put the pasta sauce and chopped spinach into the blender to reduce the spinach into the smallest particles I can.

In a large bowl I start mixing the pasta sauce/spinach with the pasta, the ricotta cheese and the feta cheese cheese. Why feta cheese in Italian food? Because it tastes damn good and holds up after baking.

Once thoroughly mixed, put the entire mixture into a 9"x13" baking dish.

I put the mozzarella cheese down first with the parmesan on top. I don't use the full bags of cheese. Just enough to cover in the density I think appropriate. We like a nice thick cheese upper crust. Use your best judgment.

Bake in the oven at 350°F for about 40 minutes, until the cheese starts to brown to your liking. I start checking the oven at 30 minutes.

After pulling it out of the oven, let it cool a bit. You want the give the various cheeses some time to pull together so you can make a nice slice. You can keep it in the fridge for a while, it makes a great leftover to reheat in the microwave.

Posted by michael at April 19, 2009 08:25 PM