Recipe Background
Mini Lasagna Bakes: a comforting one-dish wonder that's perfect for solo indulgence.
The idea for Mini Lasagna Bakes came during a moving day frenzy when I was unpacking boxes in my first solo apartment. A stray wine bottle rolled out, hitting a can of whole Italian tomatoes. That sparked a memory of the mini lasagnas I used to make during college, baked in those trusty small round dishes. With a ravenous appetite and a desire for something comforting yet manageable, I decided to recreate the dish, imagining the sizzling sound of bacon in the skillet to calm my nerves. As the bacon gently turned pink and the onion softened alongside it, a sense of normalcy warmed the new space.
During those college days, I always kept a stash of no-boil lasagna sheets. They were a game changer in student kitchens. I’d eagerly load up on Italian sausages, breaking them open to let their vibrant flavors mix with diced garlic. Remember adding the red wine? Letting it simmer until the sauce thickened required patience that helped with study breaks. Chef's tip: gently crush the whole tomatoes by hand before adding them for a chunkier texture. The ritual of layering the pasta with ricotta cheese and Parmesan brought a sense of achievement when unveiled from the oven, bubbling and golden.
This time it was just for me, but those humble dishes were always fit to share. The heady aroma, as familiar as a lifelong friend, wrapped around me with each bite of the mini lasagna, sealing a new chapter in my life in the new apartment. I knew that this was a recipe I'd return to any time I needed to feel grounded and accomplished.
Ingredients
- 4 slices thick bacon roughly chopped
- 1/2 onion diced
- 1 large clove garlic minced
- 1 1/4 pounds Italian sausages cut open with the filling taken out
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 (28-ounce) can Italian whole tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
- 1 (15-ounce) container full-fat ricotta cheese
- 1 box no-boil lasagna sheets
- 4 cups parmesan cheese finely grated
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large 10-inch skillet, cook the bacon until it starts to turn pink.
- Add the onion to the bacon and cook over medium heat, while stirring, until the onion is soft.
- Add the garlic and the sausage to the bacon mixture and break up the meat using a wooden spoon and stir well.
- Add the olive oil, the basil, and the oregano to the meat mixture and cook until the sausage has browned, about 5-7 minutes.
- Use your hands to slowly squeeze and roughly crush each of the whole tomatoes into the meat mixture.
- Add the tomato paste and the wine to the meat mixture and stir well.
- Season the meat mixture with the salt and the pepper.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower it to a simmer, and cook on low heat until it is thick and rich, about 30 minutes.
- Add the ricotta cheese to the sauce mixture and stir well until all of the ricotta is mixed through evenly.
- At the bottom of four small, round baking dishes, add a thin layer of the sauce and then a layer of the lasagna noodles.
- Spread more of the sauce over each of the pasta layers and sprinkle it generously with the parmesan cheese.
- Repeat the layering process for each dish until there is just enough sauce to finish with a final layer on top.
- Sprinkle the tops with the remaining parmesan cheese.
- Bake the mini lasagnas until the sauce is bubbling around the edges and the cheese has melted, about 30-40 minutes.
- Let the mini lasagnas cool for 5 minutes.
- Serve.
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