I was craving a comforting Sunday night dinner. But what to make when my husband is recovering from dental surgery and I’m still testing positive for Covid?? Soft food with ingredients on hand. The happy solution was to borrow and simplify Julia Turshen’s “A Nice Lasagna ” from her cookbook Small Victories.
Her recipe involves making tomato sauce and rolling out fresh pasta noodles. My version was a large jar of bottled sauce and a box of expired (barely) no-boil noodles both forgotten in my pantry. I had mozzarella and Parmesan and because it’s summer, a basil plant from Trader Joes on the deck. Julia’s trick which made it so doable was to skip the typical ricotta or bechamel layer and instead stir creme fraiche right into the tomato sauce for creamy richness. Of course I didn’t actually have that , but sour cream is a great substitute. I followed the instructions for baking on the noodle package and we both had seconds. Leftovers galore!
40 oz. bottle Marinara sauce ( Victoria White Linen or Rao’s)
1 box no-boil Lasagna noodles
1 cup coarsely grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup finely grated Parmesan
1 cup sour cream
1-2 large handfuls fresh basil, torn into small pieces if large
Follow instructions on dried noodle box of layering noodles, sauce, cheeses and basil. ( I didn’t use all the noodles) ending with sauce and cheese. Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes, then remove foil and bake a bit longer. (I did 15 minutes). Let sit for 15 minutes to allow noodles to absorb the sauce.
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