I have about ten different recipes and my own trial and error to thank for the making of this lasagna. Just like beer cheese soup, the cheese is what makes all the difference. Don’t buy the pre-shredded bagged swill, invest in some decent blocks of cheese from the cheese counter. My favorites to use are Raclette and Fontina, but go wild with your bad self and test out whatever grabs you.
Ingredients:
A 15 ounce container of ricotta cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1 Tablespoon dried thyme
One box of lasagna noodles
One jar of your favorite marinara sauce (unless you want to make your own. But then this won’t be an easy kick-ass lasagna, it will be a moderate kick-ass lasagna.) My favorite jarred sauce is Rao’s marinara sauce because the Rao’s in Caesar’s Palace in Vegas holds a special place in my heart.
3-4 cups of freshly grated cheese. I use 4 cups because in my world, there is no such thing as too much cheese. I do 2 cups Raclette and 2 cups Fontina
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Grate the cheese and set aside.
Mix the ricotta, milk, basil, and thyme together and set aside.
Bring a large pot of water with a little salt in it to a boil and add the lasagna noodles. Cook about 8 minutes, then drain the noodles. Rinse the noodles with cool water because you will be handling them shortly. If you want to be a pro, you can lay them on a greased cookie sheet so they don’t stick together while you’re working with them. If not, just rinse them under cool water for a solid minute to ensure they don’t keep cooking and stick to each other resulting in a big fucking mess.
Spray a 9×13″ lasagna pan with cooking spray.
Lay the first layer of noodles down vertically. (You’ll have to cut them to fit the 9″ when you lay them vertically.)
Spread a third of the ricotta mixture on top of the noodles.
Pour a quarter of the jar of marinara on top of the ricotta mixture and use a spatula to spread it evenly.
Lay your second layer of noodles on top, this time going horizontally.
Spread another third of the ricotta mixture on top of the noodles.
Pour another quarter of the jar of marinara on top and spread evenly.
Lay your third layer of noodles down, going vertically now.
Top with your last third of the ricotta mixture and another quarter of the jar of marinara sauce and spread evenly.
Layer your fourth and final layer of noodles on top, going horizontally. Cover with the last quarter of the jar of marinara sauce.
Dump all of the shredded cheese on top and spread evenly.
Cover your pan with foil and bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.
Remove the foil, turn your broiler on high, and broil that beautiful sonuvabitch for an additional 8 minutes until the cheese starts to brown and gets bubbly. I prefer the edges to get a little crispy but my husband hates crispy edges of lasagna, so if you’re a monster like him, broil for 6-7 minutes instead.
Enjoy!
