These days when there is no longer any boundaries in our kitchen we all try to feed our family with world class food with international touch. It is not only a great idea to know and taste different cuisines but also it reminds us how close we all are. Many times during these knowledge sharing process or self-learning process I find out the missing links between two cuisines and frankly speaking it amazes me all the time.
Today I’m going back to Italy; paradise of cheese, bread and meat. But no today I’m not making any of these. I’ll try my hands on one of their authentic items or should I say their copyrighted one? Yeah, you guessed it right, it’s Pasta.
It’s not any traditional pasta recipe but yes ofcourse it will require two of their oldest sauces for it. It’s Lasagna. What? Are you reminding me to take my words back about it’s not being traditional? Patience and Peace guys! So what if it is Lasagna? Did I mention about the pasta sheet or lasagna sheet yet? Nooo. Cause I won’t need them. Why? Cause I’ll be using Spaghetti. No no don’t call me by names!!! It’s too early for it.
Spaghetti Lasagna. And I’m determined. In fact why Not! It’s classy; it’s easy; it promises the taste; it’s authentic (of course it is!) and top of all it’s also pasta 😀 (now I have ear long grin on my face) Actually for a long time I was thinking about making lasagna but couldn’t make time out to prepare lasagna sheets. Yes another drawback of my place; I don’t get ready made pasta sheets. But my craving become so high that I decided to make it with other pasta. Then I realized my pantry is always full of spaghetti so why not try it with them. There the adventure began. And ended here when I’m writing this post with my stomach full.
Here we go with the recipe of Spaghetti Lasagna with ¼ cup of cheese only. Yes again you read it right. We need only ¼ cup of cheese for this recipe unlike the authentic lasagna recipe which is full of cheese. I replaced the cheese with healthy cottage cheese and it worked just fine with few tricks. You will learn about all those tricks in the recipe itself. I used mozzarella cheese only for the topping to give it a bubbling and oozing cheesy look. If you wish you can skip that part also. Infact I’m planning to try a cheese-less lasagna. Sounding weird right? But it sounds really inviting to me. Anyway that will be some other day soon.
Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 50 mins
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
Béchamel sauce : ½ cup
Spaghetti : 200g
Mozzarella cheese : ¼ cup (optional)
Jalapeno : 2, cut into roundels
Milk : 4 tbsp
Pepper powder : 1 tsp
Paprika powder : 1 tsp
Salt : if required; remember mozzarella contains much higher level of salt
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 1800C.
Prepare the spaghetti as per instruction on the cover. Drain the water and pat them dry.
Combine the milk and the cottage cheese and blend in a blender or food processor to make a smooth puree of it.
Combine 2 tbsp of cheese with 2 tbsp of the béchamel sauce.
Take a pie dish or any oven proof pan. I used a oven proof rectangle glassware.
Pour 1 cup of Bolognese sauce in the pan and spread with a spatula to cover the bottom of the pan evenly.
Arrange half of the spaghetti on the top of the sauce. And spread them evenly to cover the sauce completely.
Pour 1½ cup of the Bolognese sauce over the spaghetti and spread evenly as before.
Now pour cheese and béchamel sauce mix on the top of it. Pour 2/3 tbsp of remaining Bolognese sauce on the sides and middle as per requirement. If your noodles are not dry like mine then no need to add excess Bolognese sauce.
Scoop out the cottage cheese mixture with a medium ice-cream scoop and place on the top of the cheesy béchamel sauce. Spread as evenly as possible.
Now pour rest of the béchamel sauce on the top.
Spread the sauce evenly and try to make a single layer with cottage cheese layer.
Now arrange rest of the spaghetti on the top.
Pour rest Bolognese sauce on the top of the spaghetti and spread.
Try to make the layering as even as possible.
Spread the rest cheese on the top of it. Leave an inch of each side from the edge to avoid splitting of the melted cheese.
Arrange jalapeno pieces on the top for extra kick of the spice.
Bake the spaghetti lasagna in the preheated oven for 30 mins. Keep on stand-by for 10 more mins. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Enjoy the delicious yet low cheese spaghetti lasagna hot. You can have it with Bolognese sauce as well (if you got any excess).
This thing is very heavy and stuffy so be careful about your left overs. Keep them in air tight container and refrigerate up to 2 days. Don’t freeze. Otherwise the taste will be lost completely.
Tips:
1. If you are not using mozzarella at all, use cottage cheese to create the bottom layer and sprinkle some salt on it. It will give the similar effect of regular cheese.
2. Make the Bolognese sauce prior to the day of making lasagna. It will reduce the work load for the day. For the recipe of the Homemade Bolognese Sauce click here.
3. Don’t make the béchamel sauce on prior day; it will ruin the taste and texture of the sauce.
4. You can make this spaghetti lasagna in muffin molds or individual cups for individual serving.
5. If you want to serve this in a party or use it in a lunchbox or as a breakfast item and finding it difficult to manage time for preparing the complete dish I can give you one tip. You can bake the spaghetti previously but without the top layer of cheese. Before serving or packing just add the top layer of cheese and bake according to your need.
Sharing this recipe with http://www.simplelivingeating.com/2014/02/hearty-chicken-barley-white-bean-soup.html
Hi Luisa, I'm so glad that you liked it. Thanks for trying my recipe and sharing your valuable feedback with me 🙂