Lasagna by Ear (Lasagna Cake)
Ingredients: Lasagna sheets, I put 17 but it depends on the dish you are using. 10 slices of bacon, 6-7 tablespoons of ricotta, 300g grated mozzarella, 200g cow telemea, 200g minced pork, 100g pesto sauce, 9-10 tomatoes, 200ml unsweetened whipped cream, 10 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper to taste, fresh basil, 1 bay leaf, 3-4 tablespoons of oil.
Boil the lasagna noodles in a large pot of salted water with a tablespoon of oil for about five minutes, starting from the moment the water reaches a boiling point. Once cooked, remove them with a slotted spoon and place them in a colander. Then, rinse under cold running water to stop the cooking process. Arrange the noodles on plates, side by side, without overlapping, to prevent them from sticking. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
Next, we prepare the marinara sauce. Peel and seed the tomatoes, then crush them well. Place them in a pot over medium heat. When the sauce starts to boil, add salt, pepper, and a bay leaf, which will be removed at the end. Let it boil until the sauce thickens. Once it reaches the desired consistency, add 4-5 crushed garlic cloves and boil for another minute. Remove from heat and add finely chopped fresh basil leaves. Cover and set aside.
Now we move on to preparing the cheese sauce with pesto. Take half of the heavy cream, bring it to a boil, season with salt and pepper, and let it boil well. Add two or three tablespoons of pesto sauce, depending on your preference, and mix until well combined. Then, add mozzarella, two tablespoons at a time, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Finally, add three chopped garlic cloves and remove from heat, covering it to retain warmth.
For the cheese sauce, bring the remaining heavy cream to a boil, season with salt and pepper, and when it starts to boil, add mozzarella, ensuring the sauce becomes thick but not excessive. Cover again and set aside.
The ground pork is seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic, then fried in a pan with a little oil. Cook until it changes color, then add a little marinara sauce to combine the flavors, then turn off the heat and set aside.
Now we are ready to assemble the lasagna. Take a deep dish and start lining it with lasagna sheets. The sheets overlap quite a bit, as they need to support the weight of the filling. Cover the bottom of the dish, being careful to cut the second and third sheets to avoid a too thick layer of noodles. The edges of the lasagna sheets are left hanging, as we will use them at the end. The cut scraps are not thrown away but saved for later use.
After lining the dish well, we start building the layers. First, we put shredded mozzarella, followed by crispy bacon drained of fat. Then, we add feta cheese and a layer of cheese sauce with pesto. We continue with the leftover noodles and form new layers. We place ricotta cheese, feta, meat with marinara sauce, shredded mozzarella, marinara sauce, and more lasagna sheets, repeating the process until we reach the edge of the dish.
It is essential to intersperse mozzarella and cheese sauces well with layers of noodles, as they provide stability. Cover the lasagna with the edges of the noodle sheets and again cut some to avoid excess dough. Place it in the oven until the lasagna is heated through and the mozzarella melts, filling the gaps.
During this process, there may be leftover sheets and ingredients. These are not thrown away, but a smaller lasagna is formed in a separate dish, which can be frozen for future occasions. After preparing the large lasagna, let it cool in the dish overnight. The next day, using a long-bladed knife, detach the noodles from the sides of the dish and flip the lasagna onto a large plate. Portion according to the number of people and heat each portion on a preheated plate. Garnish with parsley or fresh basil, add cheese or marinara sauce on top, and serve, accompanied by toasted bread and a glass of wine.
