Okay, so I finally got around to trying that America’s Test Kitchen lasagna recipe everyone talks about. Heard it was supposed to be pretty solid, maybe a bit involved, but worth it. Figured I’d give it a shot over the weekend.
Getting Started
First things first, had to get all the stuff together. The list wasn’t crazy long, but they’re specific about certain things, you know? Like using whole milk ricotta, not skim. And they wanted crushed tomatoes, not diced or pureed. So I went out and got exactly what they said. Chopped up the onion, the garlic, got the meat ready – I used a mix of beef and pork like they suggested. Felt like a proper prep cook for a bit there.
Making the Sauce
Then I started on the meat sauce. Browned the beef and pork in my big Dutch oven. Drained off most of the fat, left a little for flavor. Tossed in the onions, cooked ’em down ’til they were soft. Added the garlic, stirred it around until it smelled good. Then came the tomatoes, some paste, herbs – oregano, basil, the usual suspects. Plus a pinch of red pepper flakes. They also had this weird step of adding a bit of heavy cream right at the end of simmering. Never done that before with a meat sauce. Let that bubble away gently for, I don’t know, maybe an hour? The kitchen started smelling amazing, gotta say.
The Cheese Part & Noodles
While the sauce was doing its thing, I mixed up the cheese filling. Just ricotta, parmesan, an egg, some parsley, salt, and pepper. Pretty standard stuff. Mixed it all together in a bowl. Easy enough.
Now, the noodles. They recommended the no-boil kind. I’ve been skeptical about those in the past, sometimes they end up chewy or weird. But hey, it’s ATK, right? Decided to trust the process. It definitely saved a step, not having to boil and wrangle slippery lasagna sheets.
Putting it all Together
Assembly time. This is always the fun part, kind of like building blocks but tastier.
- Spread a thin layer of meat sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.
- Layered on the no-boil noodles. Just laid ’em flat.
- Spread about half the ricotta mixture over the noodles.
- Spoon on more meat sauce.
- Another layer of noodles.
- The rest of the ricotta mixture.
- Even more meat sauce.
- Final layer of noodles.
- Topped it all off with the remaining meat sauce.
- Finished with a good sprinkle, okay, maybe a heavy sprinkle, of mozzarella and more parmesan.
It looked pretty hefty when I was done layering.
Baking and Waiting
Covered the whole thing tightly with foil. Popped it into the oven. Baked it covered for a while, then took the foil off for the last bit so the top could get bubbly and golden brown. The waiting is always the hardest part. Smelled incredible while baking.
Pulled it out, looked great. Browned cheese, sauce bubbling around the edges. Now, ATK is very strict about letting lasagna rest. They said at least 15-20 minutes. It’s tough, you just want to dive in. But I waited. Paced around the kitchen a bit.
The Final Verdict
Finally, cut into it. The layers held together pretty well, wasn’t a sloppy mess which was good. The no-boil noodles? They actually worked! Cooked through perfectly, tender, not chewy. The sauce was rich, the cheese was gooey. That little bit of cream in the sauce maybe did make it a bit smoother? Hard to say for sure, but it tasted really, really good.
Was it worth the effort? Yeah, I think so. It took some time, definitely not a quick weeknight meal. But for a weekend project, the result was a seriously delicious, classic lasagna. Better than my usual? Maybe a bit more refined. I’d make it again, for sure. Solid recipe.
