Pesto goat cheese lasagna

 

Mother's Day is coming up, and I want you all to give it the proper amount of planning and attention it deserves. Also, you need to know, mom's don't want breakfast in bed. The idea of a sticky, crumby mess in my bed makes me squirm. Your mom would much prefer for you to make her dinner. And she doesn't want you to ask her what she wants. She wants you to just do it. And most importantly, she doesn't want to see a messy kitchen afterwards. The kitchen should be just as clean, nay cleaner than before you stepped foot into it.

So you're going to make her this pesto lasagna, and I'm going to make it as easy as possible for you. This lasagna has 3 parts: pesto meat sauce, cheese mixture, and noodles. You can definitely customize each of these components to a degree.

The pesto sauce: Instead of a tomato-based sauce, I used pesto. Like I said, I want this to be as easy as possible for you, so just buy pesto. Other than the pesto, it's a pretty standard meat sauce for lasagna. If you want a meatless lasagna, replace the sausage with sauteed asparagus and wilted spinach. You can make this a day in advance to make prep easier.

The cheese mixture: I'm going to throw you for a loop with the addition of goat cheese to the cheese mixture. Goat cheese adds subtle tanginess to lasagna that really makes it stand out. Also, it pairs really nicely with a little lemon zest to brighten the flavor. If that's too weird for you, just substitute cottage cheese.

The noodles: I am Team No-Boil Lasagna Noodles all the way! Not only does it eliminate a step, but they're also thinner than regular noodles so they better mimic the texture of fresh-made pasta. Just make sure all parts of the noodle is covered in sauce. Any part of the noodle that is left exposed won't get cooked.

Assembly is easy once the three parts are made. Always put a little sauce on the bottom so the bottom noodles don't burn and stick to the baking dish. Then your layering should look like this: Noodles, 1/3 pesto meat sauce, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cheese mixture, noodles, 1/3 pesto meat sauce, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cheese mixture, noodles, 1/3 pesto meat sauce, 2 cups mozzarella cheese.

To make things even easier, you can prep and refrigerate the entire unbaked pan of lasagna up to 3 days in advance. On baking day, move the pan of lasagna out to room temperature for about 30 minutes before baking.

Pesto goat cheese lasagna

Yield: Makes about 12 servings

Time: About 90 minutes

Ingredients

For pesto meat sauce

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground sausage

• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 shallot, finely diced

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 12 ounces pesto

For cheese mixture

• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 10 ounces goat cheese
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tablespoons lemon zest


For assembly

• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles (one 8-ounce package)
• 16 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated (about 4 cups)

Directions

For pesto meat sauce

1. Place deep pan over medium heat and add oil. Once oil is hot, add sausage to pan. Break up sausage while cooking until only a little pink remains, about 4 minutes.
2. Turn heat to medium-low, add shallot and saute for several minutes. Add garlic and saute another minute.
3. Add wine and stir for about 2 minutes until wine nearly evaporates.
4. Stir pesto into sauce ingredients and remove from heat.

For cheese mixture

1. In a large bowl, mix ricotta, goat cheese, lemon zest, and egg.

For assembly

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Spread 1/4 cup pesto sauce (just enough to cover bottom) on bottom of 9x13-inch casserole dish.
3. Add 4 noodles to bottom of dish. Spread on 1/3 of meat sauce. Spoon on and spread top with 1/2 of cheese mixture. Sprinkle 1 cup mozzarella on top. 
4. Add 4 noodles on top of cheese. Spread on 1/2 of remaining meat sauce. Spoon on and spread top with rest of cheese mixture. Sprinkle 1 cup mozzarella on top. 
5. Add 4 noodles on top of cheese. Spread on remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle on remaining mozzarella.
6. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
7. Remove foil and broil 2 minutes, or until cheese turns golden. Rest 30 minutes before cutting.