opposites attract

What is the opposite of Irish? Well if you grew up on the East Coast, NJ especially, you know the answer to that is Italian. Since we had that fabulous Irish feast last night, tonight we will have Italian. Every good Italian dish starts with the sauce. I’ve made a huge vat of my homemade sauce and it has been simmering away all day on the stove. Many people are scared to make homemade tomato sauce because more often times than not, it comes out too acidic and ruins the dish. My trick for handling the acidity is to add in some finely chopped carrot and zucchini; they absorb the acidic flavors and naturally sweeten the sauce. In the rare case that doesn’t work, I just add a dash of sugar.

My favorite part of any Italian meal is always the bread. I tried to find a recipe for homemade Italian bread with a crunchy crust but all of them required about 5-6 hours of effort … no thanks. Instead, I found the recipe for a rosemary focaccia, which was MUCH easier, barely required any kneading, and only needed 30 minutes to rise. Despite my inability to make bread outside of my breadmaker, this turned out amazing and OMG my house smells SO GOOD!!!! I now can make two kinds of bread without my breadmaker: Irish soda bread and rosemary focaccia. Please don’t ask me to try anything else just yet; I’m still glowing over the success of these two breads.

Now really, with a good loaf of bread and a pot of sauce, I don’t need much else, maybe just a big girl glass. But alas, Dan will want a real meal when he gets home and if I’m already cooking, why not make an entrée. I’m going to make my grandmom’s famous lasagna. Many who’ve had my gmom’s lasagna would be mighty surprised to meet her, as she is the opposite of Italian. BUT another thing I learned back East is that you don’t have to be Italian to make a great sauce, you just have to be from the tri-state area. Since I’ve pretty much thrown the 90 day challenge out the window, I could just make the lasagna the way my gmom does; however, I’m feeling the need to at least try to be the littlest bit healthy so I’ve tweaked the recipe some. I’m using whole grain noodles, all low or nonfat cheeses and extra lean ground sirloin (beef two nights in a row, Dan is going to flip!).

After I finish layering my lasagna pan full of noodles, cheeses and meat sauce; before I top with my final handful of mozzarella, I’m going to melt 1 tbsp of butter into ¼ cup of milk and pour it over the top, just like grandmom used to do. That is the big Lewis family secret to the most amazingly delicious lasagna you have ever had in your life! Of course, gmom always used whole milk and real butter vs. today I used skim milk and reduced-fat butter substitute, so we’ll see if the results are the same.

My healthified version of Grandma’s classic lasagna:
1 box whole grain lasagna noodles
1 15oz container fat-free ricotta
2 cups part-skim mozzarella
1 cup reduced-fat parmesan plus extra for sprinkling
1 egg
Whatever Italian seasonings you like: oregano, basil, parsley, etc.
1 lb extra lean ground sirloin (or ground turkey)
3 cups tomato sauce
¼ cup skim milk
1 tbsp butter/margerine

Brown and drain the meat, return to pan and add 3 cups tomato sauce and warm through.

In a large bowl, beat the egg, then add ricotta and parmesan cheese and mix well. Add Italian seasonings and mix.

Now it’s time to make your lasagna; pour a healthy spoonful of sauce in the bottom of the pan; place 1/3 of the noodles on the bottom of the pan, top with 1/3 of the ricotta mix and 1/3 cup of mozzarella, cover with a ladleful of sauce. Repeat your layers until you just have noodles on the top.

In the microwave or on the stove, melt the butter into the milk and pour over the bare noodles; top with remaining sauce and remaining mozzarella.

Cover the lasagna with foil and bake for 30 min at 350. Remove the foil and bake another 20 min. Remove from the oven, re-cover with foil, and allow the lasagna to sit for 15-20minutes before serving. Enjoy!!