There is something just so wonderful about lasagna, if there was a list of the perfect foods of the world, lasagna would be on it! Pasta, Marinara and cheese,more pasta, more cheese…… oh yes the power of cheese, and lots of it! While its not a difficult meal to make, it’s one that I rarely make and I’m not sure why.
Last week I received a shipment of Greek Yogurt from Chobani ( I will be featured on their blog next week) and I challenged myself to find some less than conventional ways to use it. So I added it to my lasagna!
You’ll have to wait until next week to see what I made for Chobani!
I don’t know how many of you use them, but I have loved pasta sheets since the day they came out on the market, and not only does my local Wegman’s have pasta sheets, they have fresh pasta sheets! Now if your a traditionalist and still use the old fashioned noodles, I will give you an institutional trick for using them, and no I didn’t learn it while I was Institutionalized….sigh. But I did learn it from a Nutritionist who had run the University of Pennsylvania Hospital food service, Thank you Mrs. Juni, you taught me so much!
What Mrs. Juni showed me was that you didn’t have to cook your pasta noodles, all you had to do was put a layer of sauce below the noodles and above the noodles, let the Lasagna sit for about 8 hours before cooking (ovenite is best) and you would never know you didn’t spend all that time cooking noodles fighting with them to keep them whole! That being said, again I am grateful for pasta sheets!!
I added a little twist to my lasagna, after my first layer of noodles I added some eggplant cutlets, that were breaded and pan fried, topped with marinara and mozzarella. So in essence I started with Eggplant parm!
Then I did my regular layer of ricotta, a layer of noodles, and ricotta again. Now here is where I added a little more to it. I added a layer of broccoli rabe and a Greek yogurt white sauce. Finished with a layer of noodles, marinara and cheese, glorious cheese!
I do have to say it was one of the best lasagne’s I have ever made!! I hope you like it!
Chef Dennis’ Lasagna
(this will make a 13 x 9 inch baking pan of lasagna)
12 pasta sheets or a box and a half of dry noodles
32 oz ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
3/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Large eggplant sliced into 1/4 inch cutlets, breaded, pan fried and drained
2 bunches broccoli rabe cooked, drained and seasoned
1 qt marinara sauce
16 oz shredded mozzarella
12 oz Chobani Plain Low fat yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
Let’s start by getting our cheese mixture together, this is of course assuming you have your marinara ready.
Mix your ricotta, grated Romano cheese, eggs, sugar and pepper together and place in the refrigerator until needed.
Now prepare your yogurt sauce. Mix the yogurt with 1/4 cup of Romano cheese and 1/4 cup of milk , blend well, if it looks too thick add a little more milk.
prep your eggplant cutlets, peel them down, and start with a coating of flour, then an egg wash, and then seasoned bread crumbs. Pan fry the cutlets in olive oil till golden brown and drain on paper towels.
Begin by adding some sauce to the bottom of the baking dish, then a layer of noodles.
Add your breaded eggplant, a layer of sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese and a layer of noodles.
Add a little sauce on top of the noodles then use half of your ricotta cheese mixture, a little more sauce and another layer of noodles.
now add the remaining ricotta cheese mixture, top with your broccoli rabe and finish with the chobani yogurt sauce.
Top with one more layer of noodles, marinara sauce and finish with shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. Make sure you allow the Lasagna to sit for at least 10 minutes before slicing it.
The way we would bake this in the restaurant would be to cover it with cling wrap, then aluminum foil. I know it sounds crazy but the film wrap does not melt, and does not allow the foil to stick to the cheese or sauce and get all funky. You can remove the film and foil for the last 10 minutes of baking.
I hope you enjoy this lasagna as much as we did!
Ask Chef Dennis
Blog Design
This week I would like to share with you a web site that Toni from Boulder Locavore was kind enough to share with me and that helped me transform my blog. In case you hadn’t noticed MTAMF looks a little cleaner and its definitely wider. That’s right you can widen your blog so very easily, of course this tip is for blogger, I’m not sure how you would do it in any other format. The website is The Original Blogger Tips and Tricks. Follow that link to find the instructions to widen your blog. Now the only issue you may have is if you widen it to the full width of the page, some folks who use mobile devices may have trouble with the width and have to use a scroll bar, which would be a real pain on a mobile device. I widened my blog to 1100 pixels, see if that works for you.
There are a lot of other cool tips and tricks on that website so have fun and experiment, maybe you don’t need that web designer after all!!
The other tip I have for you, I figured out all by myself!! When I was working on my blog I found that a lot of the widgets I had in the side bar were doing there own thing to one side or the other and looked a bit funky. So I opened one up and saw that they were either centered, left or right aligned. Yes it is just that easy, change the alignment to what you want, so there all the same!! I even put two on the same line, aligning one left and one right ( I did that with my top two Foodbuzz widgets)
Just remember do not change anything except the one word, leave the ” ” and = in place only replace the right, left or centered.
The other tip I figured out is you can change the size of the widget by changing the width and height numbers, again change only the number i.e, 225, leave all the other symbols in place!
So have fun and make your blog prettier!!Please remember to back up your blog before you start having fun with it, in case something goes wrong!!! (thanks Kita!)
And again, I make an impassioned plea!!! Please lose the word verification, your spam detector in blogger really will stop 99% of the spam!! Help me, Help you (remember Jerry McGuire?)
Foodbuzz
It was a quiet week for Foodbuzz questions, the only one I really had was in reference to last weeks post about switching out your posts on your profile…the question was why do it? Well thats a good question, you really don’t have to, but if your kind of anal like me, and like order and like to see your last posts and their buzz, you do it. If its not important to you, you don’t. What it does do is give anyone who comes to your Foodbuzz page easy access to your last posts, when I go to someones page that has these, I buzz them all. If there not there , you can always click on the person’s activity to see their posts in order.
One thing I did notice was that sometimes people are posting two of the same blog post, or a blog post and a recipe. It’s ok if you do that, but it will split your buzz score. If your trying for a higher buzz this will hurt your score!
on another note I would like to say the plans for the North Carolina Blogger Festival are going well, Location and date are still to be determined, but it looks like sometime in July, more than likely a Friday night and Saturday. I would like any input you may have on the event, and as soon as I find out more I will let you know.
The blogger get together in Philly is moving a little slower, I haven’t had anyone respond about that get together, but I will keep you posted!
Well my friends, its past my bed time, 4 am comes very early. So thank you for stopping by, stay warm, stay full, and yes spring is on its way!!! And by all means, if you have anything to help our community send it along to me and I will share it with a link to your blog.
Share Your Knowledge-Together WE Are Stronger
More recipes from my site
It’s All About Greek Yogurt, with Very Berry Muffins and Pasta Primavera with Ask Chef Dennis
Feta Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms and Ask Chef Dennis
Tomato and Spinach Lasagna Recipe
Broccoli Rabe Macaroni and Cheese and Ask Chef Dennis
Lemon Cheesecake Recipe and Mini Cheesecakes too!
Pineapple Butter Cake Recipe – Chef Dennis
Kim - Liv Life says
Oh how I love lasagna!! My son actually just asked me to make one… his lactose intolerance has put lasagna on the "not really" list, but once in a while and with the little lactose pills he will be fine. You have inspired me to make on!
Thanks for the blog tips… I've wanted to widen mine, but wasn't able to easily figure it out and have just forgotten about it. I'm going to take a peek!!
[email protected] says
love this lasagna! looks so unique and delicious.:)
Juliana says
Your lasagna looks great, specially with eggplants, I love it! What a great meal…the picture is very tempting 🙂
Cake Duchess says
Oh my goodness-gorgeous lasagna! Mouth watering photos. More wonderful information that I appreciate you sharing. Hope you are having a great week, Dennis:)
Jenn says
Lasagna is one of my all time favorite foods to make AND eat!!! Yours looks wonderful! I didn't realize you didn't need to boil the noodles…thanks for the tip!
And thanks for the tips on the blog design…I'm going to check that out.
p.s…I took the word verification off my comments!!! 🙂
SARAPLICIOUS! says
I have never made lasagna before. I may be the only person in the planet that has never made it 🙂 Anyhow, I will try your recipe. It looks so good and I actually prefer my lasagna with no meat. Thanks for sharing!
A Thought For Food says
It's so funny… lasagna is a dish that I love but so rarely make. I think the real reason is that I associate it with something that my mom would make for my family… something that was her magically wonderful creation… so it feels odd that I would be making a lasagna. That's something that is supposed to be eaten with my parents, my sister… in my childhood home. Odd how these feelings come out when you start to think about a dish.
Anyway, yours looks wonderful and I plan on trying my own lasagna real soon. Thank you for the inspiration!
Tanantha @ I Just Love My Apron says
I shamefully admitted that I never cooked pasta sheet or made lasagna before!! – -"
What? did I hear it right? I don't have to cook it? just let it sit on and above sauce!? my goodness this is new and intrigues me very much. Thanks so much for the tips!
PS: I like the new look of the Mount!
Trish says
I loved how you added Greek yogurt to your lasanga. I'm always wanting to add yogurt to my dishes but I get scared it will change or cause an unwanted flavor or texture. GOod to know it's chef approved for lasanga.
I noticed your blog changed a bit. It's looking really good! Thanks for sharing great tips! Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day, Dennis!
Debbie says
Chef Dennis…I love tips like the overnight noodle trick! I have never used pasta sheets, but make lasagna variations often I will have to hunt some of these sheets down.
I have been thinking about getting a designer for my blog, but they seem so expensive and I don't really want anything that flashy. The blogger tip site looks like it will do the trick and its free, thanks! Have a good rest of the week!
Hyosun Ro says
What a great looking lasagna you have there! It sounds really good with the additions of eggplants and yogurt. Thanks for all the information on blog design. My blog desperately needs makeover.
Lo-mo says
Hi Chef Dennis,
The lasagna looks fabulous.
Congratulations! You have an award waiting for you! You can pick up your award at:
http://littlekitchenontheprairie.blogspot.com/2011/02/very-stylish-blog-award.html
Take care,
Lori
Pacheco Patty says
Hi Dennis, great post with lots of info,thanks! The new 'wider' blog looks great, almost as good as the yummy cheesy lasagne. Such a great idea to throw a cup of yogurt into the mix. Have a great week;-)
Intuitive Eggplant says
Definitely like your new look, Dennis, and thanks for the tips and link to that website. I've recently made some changes to my blog design too (the one I'm happiest with is my new header!). Agree with you about keeping things clean and simple!
Mari says
This is the best lasagna, that I have seen, my hubby loves the recipe.
Thanks chef!
Torviewtoronto says
so filling and looks delicious
ladymorgiana says
Bloody hell with all trimmings! Now you got me hungry! I've been translating whole evening long and then I see this loveliness… cruelty My Friend, cruelty 😉
kita says
I design web sites and blog as a side job so my first words of advice to this post are to back up ALL of your existing files before you actually start messing with anything. I know that sounds mean but I have spent hours going over someones site because they were testing new things. If you back up your files often than if there is a major break in the system, at least you only have to put the latest back up back in place.
Sorry if that sounds like a lecture, its not meant to be. Its just I have more than once experienced the frustration that can occur without backing up things properly first.
AND! Your lasagna looks amazing as always 😀
Ana Powell says
Great information, thanks Chef Dennis and Mrs. Juni.
Great new look too.
This lasagna looks absolutely fabulous and well delicious.
Have a great week ♥
Federica says
come sempre una ricetta buonissima!!!complimenti! ciao!
bunkycooks says
Hi Chef,
Love your new look! It must be makeover time because I have one as well! Please keep me posted on NC Blogger's Festival. I wud love to come if I can.
BTW, the lasagna looks awesome and I love the added veggies!
Gwen
Georgia (The Comfort of Cooking) says
Dennis, this lasagna looks amazing! It's one of my and my husband's favorite comfort foods. I was going to make it soon with a homemade ricotta cheese recipe from The Italian Dish blog… You should check it out! Surprisingly simple. Thanks for sharing this mouthwatering meal!
Daniela says
Favolosa questa lasagna, ottima la variante con lo yougurth. vado subito a visitare i siti che hai segnalato. Ciao Daniela.
Susie Bee on Maui says
Recipe is creative and looks great! But even better (to me) was the website referral and the tips for Blogger.
I've been following your blog for a couple of weeks now and really enjoy it-thanks!
Barbara says
Great post, Dennis! Love your tips and tricks and especially love that lasagna. Great to have eggplant and broccoli rabe in it along with the yogurt! Never have tried that.
Boulder Locavore says
So great. The lasagne photo is so good it's almost naughty! Beautiful. The tips, once again, am walking away with things to do. LOVE the widget tip! 'Who knew'! Can't wait for your Chiobani post and wish they made gluten free pasta sheets. Sigh. Thanks Dennis for all your efforts and wisdom.
Becky says
Your lasagna is gorgeous, and like the addition of the eggplant. I've never done that before. Thanks for the noodle tips, too.
Your blog makeover is very crisp, and thank you for the blog tips. I'm in the middle of changing mine also.
Must be the season for change:)
mywanderingspoon says
Best dish in the whole wide world….
Lasagna….Chef, wonderful photo:)
mangiabella says
i love the eggplant parm in the lasagna!!! I've done that one time with ziti, but never with lasagna, I LOVE IT! Will try this and let you know how it goes, grandma is an eggplant fan like me 🙂
can't wait to see your chobani post, and these tips are great!!!
Mateja ^_^ says
I love the fact that there is no meat in your lasagna. It's not that I'm vegetarian, but lasagna tastes so much better without it! and the breaded eggplant just elevates it to totally upper taste level! Thanks you for blogging tips, cheers 🙂
sara @ CaffeIna says
Oh yes, lasagna has something magic! I also don't make it often but just because I like making my own pasta sheets too and that takes a bit more time. I should get better and quicker at making them.
And thanks for the link to the web design tips. I sure need them!
Have a great week, Chef! I'm glad I can finally post my comment again..I don't know what happened last week
Joy says
I love love lasanga. That looks so good.
Bonnie says
I love lasagna and I love eggplant. Any way it is prepared. This is genius, pure genius!!!
Umm Mymoonah says
Wow! The layers looks perfect, I never get perfect layers of lasagne like this.
BTW it's a good tip regarding widening the blog space, which I have been looking for a long time. Thank you so much for sharing this information.
Kath says
I love the idea of adding eggplant to lasagna! It sounds (and looks) fabulous!
I haven't seen fresh pasta sheets in the stores where I shop. Maybe I don't know where to look. I do like Barilla no-cook lasagna. It's thin and is very tender when baked.
Treat and Trick says
Lasagna looks great! Thanks for sharing the recipe with us. Love your new look and useful blogging tips…
Jean says
I love what you did with you lasagne, Dennis. Sometimes I like to mix my food on my plate to incorporate the flavors. This is much cleaner and more elegant way to do the same. My favorite layer is the eggplant but I like them all!
ravienomnoms says
What a great idea to add yogurt! I am sure it would make it that much creamier. I love lasagna so much, I don't get to eat it very often. My boyfriend's dad always makes me lasagna and I put it in my freezer (he makes the best darn lasagna ever) for a rainy day. Thank you for sharing yours, it looks absolutely delicious!
Claudia says
Yogurt in the lasagna would be most welcome. I love that you started out with Eggplant Parm. And errr… glad you weren't institutionalized. Will check out blogger's tips and tricks! Many thanks.
Cheryl and Adam says
It's true, lasagna is the perfect food! The additional tang of the Greek yogurt makes this really interesting and delicious I'm sure.
lostpastremembered says
The lasagna looks like a sunrise with those colors, dennis… I like the yogurt idea and would never have thought of it… but the tang appeals to me with all that good rich flavor.. a brighter lasagna!
Lindsay @Eat, Knit, Grow says
Oh yum! It looks so fantastic! I love that you used yogurt in it! Delicious!
Stephanie says
Ooooh, lasagna, lasagna! Always a crowd-pleaser, no? :-p I just made some about a month ago, but now I want more! I love your addition of broccoli rabe, so colorful and good for you! :-p BTW, love the new blog design!
Lin Ann says
Nice lasagne! Look at all that great cheese! Thanks for the blog tip and the info about posts on profiles, I'm not sure what you mean but I'll look into it. I removed my verification thingy – I agree it slows things down.
Katrina says
Chef Denni! Brilliant! This lasagna is looking good my friend! I've always wanted to cook with eggplant but haven't yet. Soon I hope!
It's funny that you said that about the word verification. Being new I just realized that I could change my settings and I did earlier in the week. Stop by and let me know if it all went as planned and you don't have to do a verification now. Whew! All of the code stuff is still a bit beyond me though. I'll get there…I hope!
Great post today! 🙂
Annie says
As always, great info! I am going to check out the tool to make my blog wider right now!
Michael Toa says
Chef, your lasagne looks super! Love the tweaks too. Brilliant.
Kristen says
That lasagne sounds so good. I am inspired to put more veggies in mine!
The Mom Chef says
I cannot believe you have breaded eggplant cutlets in there. Absolutely brilliant. It looks so fantastic.
Boo hiss to word verifications and captchas.
The NC blogger get together is going to be a blast. I can't wait for July.
Carolyn says
putting the chobani in lasagne is inspired, just inspired!
Lizzy says
Fabulous version of lasagna…love your tweaks! My shortcut is just to soak the dry lasagna noodles in warm water for about 30 minutes before using…they bake up just fine and you avoid that extra dirty pot.
Love your blog clean up advice (I second eliminating word verification!)…a cleaner look is SO much more inviting! Nice 🙂
jose manuel says
Me encanta la lasaña, deliciosos.
Saludos
Medeja says
i always loved lasagna, but never knew how to make it 🙂
anyway your lasagna looks really good.. 🙂
denise @ quickies on the dinner table says
Lovely lasagna and as always, wonderful and very useful blogging tips!!
Catherine says
I really wish I could have this right now!
something good says
Love lasagna and your looks a-ma-zing!
We love to make our own lasagna sheets as we are pasta-freaks!
great photos!
kitchenmorph says
it's always a pleasure coming in here. it's always bright here however dark it is outside. thank you.
Marcellina says
Every time I visit your blog I learn something else – eggplant cutlets in the lasagna..YUM! And I really though word verification was important? I think I'm going to have to set some time aside for serious work on my blog! Thank you!
All That's Left Are The Crumbs says
Your lasagna looks mouth-watering. I love the trick for using regular dried pasta sheets. I must make this soon.
I also love your "Ask Chef Dennis" section. It is like a weekly tutorial and I always learn so much. I am going to look into widening my blog as it seems to narrow to me. I was using a third-party for some side bars and they seem to have disappeared (and so has the person running this site) so I am really thinking about a re-design.
Suzanne says
Your right this does look perfect! Great photos 🙂
Cakewhiz says
I love lasagna. I think i can eat it every single day and not be bored of it. Hehe. have neved used yogurt in mine. Very interesting recipe 🙂
Elin says
Looks so mouthwatering with the greek yoghurt cheese…gosh I can have 2 pieces of that ! Thanks Chef Dennis…will be looking out for your featured post on Chobani's blog 🙂 and thanks for the tips on how to widen our blog. Great tips!
Have a nice day:)
Elin
Marguerite says
This lasagna looks scrumptious and I love the eggplant and broccoli rabe additions. Sinfully delicious! Thanks for the great recipe and tips. Love your new look!
Lana says
Lasagna is my middle daughter's favorite dish, and we make it often (that is, I make it and give her tiny lessons every time). She does not like eggplant (the rest of the family does), but I am thinking that yours was a great idea – hiding the eggplant under the pasta sheet (I know that you did not have to hide it, but I will:)
I am so happy that people are excited about yogurt. I am Serbian and yogurt was consumed daily when I was growing up. I make my own now, but I would love to try Chobani – I've heard so much about it.
Your lasagna is a beauty:)
Beloved Green says
You are absolutely right, definitely not hard to make, but for some reason I don't make it often. I think its because of the layering, my brain says that its too much work 🙂
raptortoe.com says
Huh. I never would have thought to use yogurt. I've used ricotta, cream cheese, chevre. But yogurt! Sounds good actually. Makes sense as well! Nice!
Charlie @ SweetSaltySpicy says
This lasagna looks incredible. And Greek yogurt pasta sauce? Genius!
Dionne Baldwin says
Sadly, I did not know that pasta sheets were an option before tonight while Tay was watching "Chopped". How interesting! I'd love to use that. I do love lasagna enough to request it every year on my birthday. Yours looks delicious! Thank you for sharing another great post.
thecompletecookbook says
Lasagne is such a comfort food – yummy.
I am loving the wider and cleaner look Chef. Thank you for always sharing such wonderful tips.
🙂 Mandy
sweetsbysillianah says
i was just about so say, the blog's lookin' roomier! i like the clean look! =)
i love eggplant – i'll have to try this soon…it's been a while since i made lasagna!
btw, have you or any other bloggers shared their experience as a fb featured publisher? i was planning to shoot you a separate email about that – just to know the pros and cons, i did some research and it seems there are more cons about it… would love to hear your take on it. thanks!
Foodtographer says
Dennis…I am still totally in on the Philly blogger get together. Myself and my wife are willing to travel from Vegas for it..August would be perfect but that's just me…LOL
Rachel {Mother's Mementos} says
I love lasagna. There is something truly comforting about it. And I love Wegman's! I wish there was one close to me.
And thank you for sharing your tips on web design!
I'm going to be doing a series very soon which will include tips on blog design and features (it helps to be married to a web developer). 🙂 I recently redesigned my site to give it a cleaner and fresher look. And it just goes to demonstrate that one does NOT have to shell out big bucks to have a pretty site. It didn't cost me a dime — only time. 🙂
Wendy Irene says
Lasagna is hands down my favorite main course! Honestly, it is really hard to look at those wonderful pictures because now I REALLY want some. I totally LOVE the new look. Thank you for sharing your great tips with us! They are wonderful!
sophia says
You're awesome. In just this one single post, it's crazy how much I learned. I've been looking to re-design my blog but have been so flummoxed by all the crazy codes and technical details. I'm definitely going to check out the website.
AND YES!!! I agree with the word verification thing…it's annoying! It must go!!
P.S. If I am too cheap to get ricotta…will cottage cheese work? Your lasagna looks too good to pass up though, so I think I'll still get the ricotta cheese if cottage cheese isn't good enough.
Kankana says
That's a great post and lots of good information 🙂