Anyone who cooks (or bakes) often knows that the same devil may care cooking style that causes you to dump an entire batch of cookie dough that completely flopped can also create some of the most amazing dishes you have ever tasted. This is kind of a story of both. It started out with a phone conversation with my father, in which he was telling me about his quarantine trip to the grocery store; we discussed how hard it is right now to find simple ingredients, and he ended by telling me that he managed to set hands on all of the ingredients for their lasagna recipe, and he went on to tell me that they were having it for dinner that night. (Braggart.) Well, that’s just mean, right? So you know what happens next. It digs a hook in my mind…one word. Lasagna.
Now, being that I live with 5 dudes, you can guess that I keep a pretty well stocked pantry, most of the time, but alas, I did not have the ingredients for lasagna on hand. Buuut, I had loads of chicken that I just finished cooking in the crockpot, and spinach, ricotta etc, so I thought “Great! I’ll make a white lasagna, I’ll just make the noodles from scratch.” This made my food envy situation immensely improved, and I went on about my day. As Saturdays often do, the day flew by me. I looked at the clock and realized that it was almost 6:00 pm, and I had done nothing to prepare for the fantastic white lasagna dish that had been simmering in my thoughts all day. (Yes, I really do dwell on food this much.) No worries though, as a mother it is literally my job to perform miraculous feats, in and out of the kitchen, and I do take this job quite seriously, so I was not worried, overmuch.
I grabbed a lasagna dough recipe from the internet, my stand mixer, followed the recipe to the letter, watched it mix and ended up with a rock hard lump of dough that could not even be rolled out with a rolling pin. Now, this did not surprise me, actually, because I have only ever made pasta by hand mixing on the counter. You know, the flour pile… you crack the eggs in the center…I had that momentary red flag, yet I ignored it, because I was in a hurry. I added some water to soften it a bit, hoping for a miracle, and ended up with a soggy mess. Well, if you know me at all, you know that I am a firm believer in failing early and often, so recognizing this for the shite show that it was aiming to be, I dumped it straight into the trash and glanced at the clock. It was now 6:25 p.m., and ma dudes have been working outside all day. They are looking at me like a pack of starving wolves, and I am standing in the kitchen empty-handed, with no dinner plan in sight. Well, I had planned on pasta, so pasta it shall be. I rifled through the pasta side of the quarantine pantry, which is starting to look a little bare, to find only a couple family sized boxes of cheap dried spaghetti, and one sad, lonely box of tri-colored rotini. Rotini it is. I was feeling a little sad too, over the lasagna, but I was pulling whatever ingredients went together out of the fridge and freezer and hoping for inspiration to strike. It did. In a big, big way. I seized upon the ricotta, mozzerella and pepperoni slices and chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, red peppers. If I couldn’t have lasagna for dinner then I was going to have the next best thing, although I still wasn’t really sure what that was going to be.
On a side note, I have to be fair, and tell you that I did not get any process photos, at all, perhaps because I was, sort of, pouting to myself about lasagna, and didn’t even think about adding this to the blog until it was half gone. Sorry about that. I was thinking about dinner, not blogging. Back to the story.
I had a half formed plan in the back of my mind, but the sort that’s more like “this can’t possibly work, but I’m doing it anyway.” I would make a cheese sauce from evaporated milk and mozzerella and spinach. I would layer the rotini in, in place of lasagna noodles, and add chicken and pepperoni in place of the meat sauce and sausage that I normally use in lasagna, add ricotta, and top with more mozzerella, olive oil and spices, in a lasagna pattern, and see how it all turned out. I dumped it all in my good lasagna pan, and waited with baited breath. Well, all I can say, is that it turned out Delicious. Delectable. Truly. Extra cheesy, savory with the sun-dried tomatoes, a little spicy from the peppers. Everything you could want in one dish. Ma dudes were seriously impressed. Now, if you know us well, you might be thinking, “I’m sure that doesn’t take much. If it’s food, they’re impressed.” You wouldn’t be wrong, exactly, but this dish would impress almost anybody who likes Italian style food. With a salad, and a good loaf of bread, it’s Sunday Dinner worthy, or even holiday worthy. Imagine that, and made from my sad little quarantine pantry. You can make an equally impressive meal, from your own little quarantine pantry. Let’s get you started:
Here’s a list of all the ingredients I used, but I would just say use whatever you have in your fridge that you love in your pasta.
- I used Rotini, but you can use whatever pasta you have on hand.
- Ricotta
- Shredded Chicken, pre-cooked.
- Pepperoni Slices, I used the larger sandwich slices.
- Mozzarella
- Olive Oil
- Oregano, I used dried.
- Parsley, I used dried.
- Red Pepper Flakes
For the Sauce:
- Evaporated Milk
- Garlic, minced
- Shredded Mozzarella
- Red Peppers, minced
- Sun-dried tomatoes, minced
- 1/2 cup frozen spinach
- Oregano, to taste
- Parsley, to taste
- Red Pepper Flakes, to taste
- Black Pepper, to taste
- Sea salt, to taste
Boil pasta water. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Remove from heat, and drain in colander.
Heat evaporated milk in sauce pan. Add spinach, garlic, red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes (don’t be afraid to go heavy on the sun-dried tomatoes, as much of the flavor in the sauce comes from them) and spices, heat through, let simmer about 6-10 minutes. Add mozzarella, and combined until melted and semi-thick sauce forms. Remove from heat. Set aside.
In a lasagna pan, drizzle bottom with 2 tbsp. of olive oil, then add pasta. Top with a small amount of sauce, lightly covering noodles. Add shredded chicken, then top with a layer of pepperoni slices, top that with ricotta, then more sauce, then mozzarella. Next drizzle with a little more olive oil, then top with oregano, parsley, and red pepper flakes. Repeat until you run out of ingredients. Now, some people are very particular about the order that everything goes into lasagna in. I’m not. Plus, lest we forget, this isn’t lasagna. Anything goes. The closer I get to the top of the pan, whatever’s left goes on however it fits. If it fits, it sits. The most important step though, is the top layer of mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil and herbs. Once everything is in the pan, bake at 400, until bubbly and browned. Let cool for about 10-15 minutes, then serve hot.
This recipe heats up beautifully the next day as well. I can tell you this honestly, as I’m finishing off the last piece of this recipe, as I type. Still amazing. I hope you give this one a try with whatever quarantine pasta ingredients you have lying around your pantry. When you do, let me know what variations you create, in the comments. Or share your photos with us on instagram @canigetaramen. On FB and Pinterest we can be found @canigetaramen.food.blog. Have a safe and happy Monday.
