I was sceptical using cottage cheese and sorry to say....it really does not belong in an italian dish. Fresh Ricotta cheese is really the best bet or from a super market is still better than cottage cheese. Ricotta cheese has a different flavor than cottage cheese. It is slightly sweeter and not salty like cottage cheese. With the sausage mozzerella and parmesean you don't need any more salt. One suggestion instead of sugar in the sauce add 1/4 of a finely chopped carrot to counter act any acidity from the tomato sauce. If you are looking for less fat they make ricotta in that form too.
this was so good but not enough sauce. Used Ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese and doubled cheeses ricotta and mozz to make it more gooey. I adjusted according to prev reviews. replace sugar with 2 tsp ground carrot (thanks for the tip) - also replaced pork sausage with mild Italian sausage. I doubled everything but noodles and tripled onions/garlic/parsley/oregano. only used 4 eggs. For added flavor I a whole chopped green pepper. also added the garlic when meat was browning this seems to really release the flavor. Did not use any salt because all the cheeses are salty enough - this was a good move, it turned out perfect. will make this many more times - thanks Craig!! PS - This sause is great on pizza too!
This freezes really well too but whenever i freeze dishes with tomato sauce, I find that i need to add just a little bit (small can) of sauce before cooking. just add to sides and it will work it's way down. the little extra can of sauce will help to moisten it up and bring back some of the tomato flavor which seems to go away when frozen. you can freeze whole or cook the lasagna, cool, cut into serving sizes and freeze individual serving :)
I made this for my family and it was great, the best ziti recipe I have tried.
4 stars instead of 5 because this recipe really should be written that you need a layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan before the first layer of pasta, or the first layer will be really dry. The cheese between layers will keep any sauce from getting to the pasta on the bottom.
This is the best lasagna we have ever had! And my BFF is Italian! Lol! The only changes I made were to add a layer of the sauce to the bottom like another review recommended. Make it a BIG can of tomato sauce. And use a little bit more cottage cheese. It makes the sauce spread out better and makes it goes farther as you make layers! And enjoy! Thanks to whoever posted this recipe!
This is very yummy. I did have a few problems though. First I thought it had too much of a tomatoey taste in the sauce so I added some carrot based on some of the other reviews but it still had that tomato taste so I added a few teaspoons of brown sugar. Second I wasn't sure about the parsely. It says 1 TBSP but I didn't know if only 1/2 tbsp was to go into the sauce and the other 1/2 was to go into the ricotta mixture. I ended up putting it all into the sauce and just put extra into the cheese sauce and it turned out fine. Third I doubled up on the sauce and used it all for the lasagna and wished I had left some over for extra sauce. I thought I would have plenty but I didn't and I had doubled this. 4th I used about the same amount of salt that the recipe called for and it tasted fine to me. Many people thought it was way too salty. Some changes I made were: I sauteed onion and garlic in olive oil before adding the ground beef. I only used ground beef. Then added extra garlic and onion to the tomato sauce because we love garlic. For the cheese sauce I used ricotta and shredded parmesan cheese. I think the grated parmesan might make it too salty. It was a time consuming recipe but very very good. I wish I had some sauce left over. It's very cheesy and I will make it again using my changes and possibly making sure that I have enough sauce left over.
YUM! What a fantastic recipe. My picky husband even LOVED it. FYI...top it with mozerella cheese and bake 15 min. longer so it's not runny.
I loved this recipe with a few changes. Based on previous reviews I made a little more sauce used 1/8 cup minced carrots instead of sugar and reduced the salt. I think cottage cheese is a wonderful replacement for the traditional ricotta and (to really freak out you traditionalists) I use swiss cheese instead of mozzarella- a trick I picked up from my mother-in-law. It gives a major flavor boost.
This is a wonderful recipe! It is easy to make and everyone loves it. I have made it three times now and each time I used all ground beef instead of the pork. I also don't put double noodle layers I do it with three single noodle layers. It is the best!
I made this for Valentines day the nigt before. I substituted Ricotta for cottage cheese only used a couple dashes of salt in both the sauce and cheese mix and used one pound italian sausage instead of the beef/pork combo. Baked it for thirty minutes covered 5 uncovered then let it cool and put it in the fridge. The next day I came home from work put it in the oven for about thirty to forty five minutes at 275 (upped it half way to 350- Hubby was hungry) and served. They always say Lasagna's better the next day!
