The One Egg Conundrum

I was really in the mood for some good, homemade lasagna. But as you all know, leftovers are the enemy. I decided I'd give it a whirl to attempt a HALF LASAGNAAAAAA! So luckily my mom started a reciepe book before she passed away of all the recipes that she had that were our favorites, or were family recipes so that we had them all in one place, what a smart lady! In there I found my grandmother's lasagna recipe, all made from scratch (except for the noodles obviosuly).

All was well until I saw egg... what to do when the recipe calls for one egg... how do you half an egg? Hence, THE ONE EGG CONUNDRUM.. I thought I could either use the whole egg and hope it turned out ok, or I'd scrabmle it then scoop half/some out. I ended up doing the second. I'm sure it would have worked if I had used the whole egg though :)

Half Lasagna
Courtesy of Gram Ferrari

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 clove garlic (I used 2 because I'm a rebel)
1/2 lb ground meat (this is what the whole lasagna called for as well but I still used it, again REBEL)
1 1/4 tsp salt
14oz can of diced tomatoes
4 oz of tomato sauce
3 oz of tomato paste

*The above two are sold in 8 & 6 oz cans so I just estimated half of both cans. I put the other half of them together in a rubbermaid, and put in the freezer for next half lasagna night!

6 tbsp of water (strange I know, but its 1/2 of 3/4 cup!)
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp dried parsely flakes
1/2 package of lasagna noodles
1/2 lb ricotta (aka 8 oz)
1/2 EGG
1/2 lb shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup or 1 cup parmesan


Heat 1 tbsp oil in pan, saute onions and garlic about 5 min. Stir in beef and cook over medium until meat is browned. Add salt, tomatoes, sauce, paste, water, basil, oregano, sugar and parsely. Bring to boil, simmer for 45 min. *I figured half the sauce, half the time? That and I didnt have the patience to wait 45 min to cook the damn sauce! I let it simmer for about 20-25 min. My sister insists you must wait the full 45. Will it be better? Im sure it will. Did it taste good after 20-25? Of course!

Cook lasagna noodles, add 1 tbsp of oil while cooking to prevent from sticking.  I used half the box which was about 11 noodles. I ended up cutting the noodles to fit in my 9x9 pan. I made a 3 layer lasagna and had enough noodles, so I guess I only needed 9 noodles. IF you really wanted to you could use less and use the short pieces to make the middle layer.

In bowl blend ricotta and 1/2 EGG. Preheat oven to 375. In pan arrange alternating layers of sauce (yes sauce first), lasagna, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese. Finish last layer with sauce! Like I said, I got 3 layers worth. Sprinkle with parmesean cheese. Bake in oven for 30-ish minutes, let stand for 10-ish before cutting.

I made garlic bread with this as well. But make sure you dont use moldy bread, and not realize its moldy until your putting it up to your mouth like I did :(

If you want to be brave, try adding in pepperoni. Its my secret ingredient and is my fave thing in lasagna!!! But again, the pepperoni I had was moldy. FML, I'm sensing that I dont eat things fast enough?

One day I'll take cooler pics.....

Before

 

After