Mini Lasagna

Okay, so this all started a few months back when I was walking through Ross.  I came across a four set of ramekins and they were only a few bucks so I had to get them.  Now the question because, what do I cook in them?  First thing I decided to try was lasagna.  I mean come on, how perfect is that, single serve lasagna?  This also works out well because of my work schedule; I don't have time to cook on the days I work, so I'm cooking for 3 or 4 nights worth of dinners.  Anyway, I searched online and found a recipe on FoodNetwork.com (thanks to Giada) which I tweaked a bit.  You can find that recipe at the end of this post, following after the photos.

A few notes from my experience though.  Don’t over butter the ramekins.  A light coating should do you fine.  Remember, that when the cheese cooks, it’s going to release some oils.  If you use too much butter in the ramekins, you’ll end up with a bit of a grease pool at the bottom.  Also, don’t put so much filling on top that when it cooks the filling slides over the edge of the ramekin; doesn’t make for a very good presentation.  Though if you don’t care about presentation top that sucker off J. One way you can still cover the top of the noodles with the filling and not overflow is to trim down your noodle flaps so that they just cover the inner filing.  I didn’t do this as I’m not going to waste that extra noodle bit.  But if you are going for a better presentation that should work out alright.

Okay, now for a technique tip.  If you don’t own a zester, don’t fret because I don’t either.   I still managed to get the zest into the recipe.  Take a vegetable peeler and peel the yellow layer of the lemon skin off.  Don’t get too much of the white sub-layer when you are peeling though.  That sub-layer is not going to add that great lemon flavor into your recipe.  Once you get the yellow layer off, take a sharp large knife and drag it across the inside of the peel on a cutting board.  Your goal here is to be dragging the sharp edge of the knife and scraping any of the white sub-layer off.  Next you can either cut the peel into very tiny bits or use a food chopper (it’s like a mini food processor) to obliterate the peel into tiny pieces.

As far as storing the lasagnas you don’t eat on the first meal, leave them in the ramekins and cover the entire ramekin in Saran-wrap and store it in the refrigerator.  I don’t’ know how long they will last as I ate one every night for 4 days, but as always, don’t let them store too long lest it go bad and you end up with a case of food poisoning (not fun at all).

To reheat, unwrap the ramekin and put it on a small plate.  Pop it in the microwave on high for 1:30 to 2:00.  (That’s minutes, not hours :P)  Again, you can serve in the ramekin or on a plate.  Here are a couple of final product photos:

Fresh out of the oven.  As you can see, haivng the cooking sheet is vital to help catch any overflow.

Not exactly pretty when you dump it out on a plate, but it is a little easier to eat.

I found that pairing the lasagna with a large side salad was a good balance.  Really simple salad:  Baby spinach leaves, mushrooms, stir-fry beef strips sauteed in a pan with black cherry cider, almond slices, and raspberry vinagrette salad dressing.

Here is the recipe:

Single Serving Ramekin Lasagna

Ingredients:

Butter, for ramekins
8 lasagna noodles
3 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/2 cup whipping cream, at room temperature
1 1/2 Tablespoon garlic, minced (I use the garlic that comes in the small jar)
1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
About 3 cups grated Very Sharp Aged White Cheddar
1 large lemon, zested
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves
Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
Special equipment: 4 ramekins and a large cooking sheet

Directions:

Arrange an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter the ramekins then set them aside.  (DO NOT over butter the ramekins, a light coating will do just fine.)

To make the filling:  Mix the whipping cream and mascarpone first.  Then mix in the corn and garlic.  Follow this with 1 cup of the shredded cheddar, the lemon zest, salt and pepper.  Then mix in the basil.

Get a large pot of lightly salted water with a light drizzle of EVOO boiling over high heat.

Add the pasta and cook until tender, stirring occasionally.

Now to put everything together, take one of your ramekins and two of the lasagna noodles.  Make an “X” out of the noodles and then gently press the center of the x into the bottom of the ramekin, letting the ends hang over.  Put ¼ cup of the filling into the bottom of the ramekin and add a large pinch (probably about 1 TBSP) of the shredded cheddar on top of this filling.  Now fold over the tails of the noodles.  On top of this, add a little more filling, another smaller pinch of the shredded cheese on top of this.  Drizzle with a little EVOO.  Repeat for each of the ramekins.

To cook, put all of your ramekins evenly spaced out on the cooking sheet.  Slide that into the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes.  You want the tops to turn golden brown for the most part, but don’t let it burn black.  A darker brown color on the edges is going to be normal.  Pull the cooking sheet with ramekins out of the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

To serve, either serve the whole ramekin on a small plate or you can run a knife around the inner edge of the ramekin to loosen the noodles.  Flip the ramekin over and serve the upside-down lasagna on a plate.

That's all for today!

As always, may God grace your kitchen!