Hello! Flood has been continuously receding but the weather is still cloudy with occasional light to moderate rains. The battle against bed weather and food cravings is still strong.
Lasagna is one of my favorite pasta dish and it's also the first meal I ate on my first day in college. I was alone and don't know where to eat so I went to a fast food restaurant and left with just enough money for my jeepney fare. Lol.
I've always thought making lasagna was complicated and requires an oven. I don't have an oven right now, which is why I am very happy when I found out I can still make a lasagna without it.
💁🏻♀️ No-bake Lasagna 🧀
Lasagna is among the popular and most-loved pasta dishes. It's made of layers of pasta, savory meat sauce, and cheesy white sauce. It's a heavenly layer of pasta especially for those who loves cheese.
Due to its ingredients, lasagna is quite expensive even for a small slice. Some don't even have enough sauce in it so making your own is a better choice. Aside from it's cheaper, you can pour as much sauce as you want in it!
As I have mentioned, I don't have an oven. What I'm going to teach you is how to make lasagna with a microwave. Let's begin!
📝 Here's What You'll Need 📝
✅️ Pasta:
- 8 Sheets Lasagna Pasta
- Water
- 1 Tsp. Salt
✅️ Topping:
- Approx. ½ Cup Grated Quickmelt Cheese
✅️ Meat Sauce:
- ¼ kg. Ground Pork
- 450 grams Tomato Sauce
- 6 Tbsp. Tomato Paste
- ¼ Cup Button Mushroom (sliced)
- 1 Medium Onion (diced)
- 4 Cloves Garlic (diced)
- ¼ Cup Dried Parsley
- 1 Tsp. Crushed Dried Basil
- ½ Tsp. Ground Black Pepper
- Pinch of Salt
✅️ White Sauce:
- ¼ Cup Butter
- 4 Tbsp. All-Purpose Flour
- 360ml Evaporated Milk
- ¾ to 1 Cup Grated Quickmelt Cheese
- ½ Tsp. Salt
👩🏻🍳 Let's Cook!!!
✅️ MEAT SAUCE:
1.) On a pot or pan, cook the ground pork while continuously crushing to separate the meat. You don't need oil as the ground pork releases its own oil as it gets cooked.
2.) Add the onion, garlic, and mushroom. Mix.
3.) When the onion gets translucent, add the crushed dried basil, and dried parsley. Mix until all ingredients are combined.
4.) Pour the tomato sauce. Mix and cook for around 15 to 20 minutes.
In case you can't find a 450 ml tomato sauce, you can always try 500 ml. I was supposed to use two 250 ml packs. I only have one pack of 250 ml and when I went to the grocery to buy another, only 200 ml packs were available so that's what I got.
5.) Add the tomato paste next. Mix and let it cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. You can reduce the heat when the mixture begins to splatter when it boils.
6.) Lastly, add salt and ground black pepper. Mix and let it cook for another two minutes.
You should have thick sauce like this.
Set aside and let's proceed with the white sauce.
✅️ WHITE SAUCE:
1.) Add butter on a smaller pot and wait for it to melt.
2.) Then proceed with adding the all-purpose flour. Mix until flour is completely combined with butter.
3.) Then add half of the evaporated milk and mix. When all ingredients are combined, add the rest of the milk and continue mixing. I do this technique to avoid lumps.
4.) And finally, pour the grated cheese and don't forget to add salt.
(If you want a thicker white sauce, just increase the amount of flour with another tablespoon or more. I prefer a lighter consistency because it's easier to spread on the pasta.)
Set the white sauce aside and make sure to cover it to retain its consistency. Now let's proceed to the last...
✅️ PASTA:
1.) Boil enough water on a pot and add salt. Then add the pasta.
2.) Follow the cooking time on your pasta's packaging. Mine is 6 minutes.
Drain the water or take the pasta out of the pot and place it on a plate to cool it down a bit so you don't burn your hands.
💁🏻♀️ ASSEMBLING THE LASAGNA!!! ✨️
1.) Get your container and spread enough meat sauce for its first layer. For me, I used a 1 liter baking tray. I think this baking tray is just about 2 inches deep so I was only able to make 3 layers.
2.) Then lay the lasagna sheets. Cut the sheets so it fits exactly with the tray. I used a bread knife to trim the pasta.
3.) Then I spread another layer of meat sauce. I used a spatula to spread the sauce.
4.) And finally the white sauce. Now we have one layer! Just try your best to estimate how much sauce you put on each layer to make each layer even.
5.) For the second layer, just repeat by laying another sheet of lasagna pasta, meat sauce, and white sauce.
6.) And for the third and last layer, we do the same. Pasta, meat sauce, and white sauce.
7.) Then we sprinkle a generous amount of grated cheese on top! Or whatever is left from the 1 bar (160g) of quickmelt cheese.
8.) Then microwave for 8 minutes.
Lasagna Just The Way I Want It!!! 💕
I always love making the no-bake lasagna because it always ends up delicious. As someone who loves cheese, this dish really makes me happy. It's easy to make but takes some effort in layering the ingredients. Anyway, the effort was worth it! My brother even approves its taste. Lol.
This recipe make 6 servings. Apart from the baking tray, I was still able to make another on a smaller plastic container from the excess pasta cuttings.
I'm really thankful and happy that I can make my own lasagna now because it's one of my favorite pasta dishes. It saves me money and best of all, I can put as much sauce as I want! 🥰
Thanks for reading! 💚