“From the SCCC Kitchen” offers Daily Gazette readers tastes from Schenectady County Community College’s nationally accredited American Culinary Federation culinary arts program. Recipes selected by SCCC instructors can easily be prepared at home. Today, instructor David J. Wixted — also project coordinator for the New York State Hospitality Grant — has an alternative for the upcoming days of leftover turkey: Baked Lasagna.

Thanksgiving dinner represents a busy day for home chefs. Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing and vegetables are on menus and minds.

SCCC instructor David J. Wixted invites home chefs to try a lasagna with no-boil noodles.
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After a day or two of leftovers, and perhaps another day of turkey soup, David J. Wixted expects people will have an appetite for a simple meal and a simple procedure. He further expects folks will gobble up his Baked Lasagna.

“You can’t miss with this recipe,” he said. “It’s very easy to prepare.”

Wixted uses two tricks in the kitchen to ensure fine taste in a finite amount of time. One of them is no-boil noodles.

“You just lay your pasta noodles out, you don’t have to worry about boiling them for those two to three to four minutes and then draining them and then having noodles all over your counter and trying to prepare it that way,” Wixted said. “Literally, you just make your layers, put your pasta sheets down and put it in the oven and bake it away. The pasta will actually expand for you to make that nice, tight seal.”

Keeping noodles away from hot water prevents home chefs from getting into hot water during the preparation process.

“I felt people were afraid to actually make it because of the noodles,” Wixted said. “It was, ‘Geez, I only have to cook them for three to four minutes, what if I overcook them? Then I’ve got to strain them and I’ve got noodles all over the place.’ I think that was the stigma with it.”

The other cooking idea comes with the sausage prep. No frying takes place with Wixted’s lasagna — he boils and simmers loose sausage. “We’re de-greasing the sauce,” he said. “When we assemble our layers, we don’t have all that grease from the sausage going into the lasagna.”

He also chops the sausage in the pan. A fine mixture means easy spreading on pasta noodles — and an easy way to make dinner.

Baked Lasagna

11⁄2 pounds sweet sausage, loose

32 ounces ricotta cheese

2 large eggs

Garlic powder, to taste

Oregano, to taste

Parsley, to taste

60 ounces tomato sauce (favorite brand)

16 no-boil lasagna noodles

16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

12 ounces grated Parmesan cheese

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium frying pan, place the sausage and cover with water. Bring mixture to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently to break up the sausage.

Drain and set aside. This de-greases the sausage so the lasagna is not greasy.

While the sausage is simmering, combine the ricotta cheese, eggs and seasonings in a mixing bowl and mix well.

To assemble: Use a 1⁄2-inch aluminum steam pan. Place it on a 1⁄2-inch sheet pan, covered with aluminum foil, to support the bottom (using foil on the sheet pan protects the pan from any boiling over during cooking, which makes clean-up easier).

Place about 12 ounces of sauce on the bottom of aluminum pan. Then, place 4 lasagna noodles, slightly overlapped with enough sauce to cover. Place 4 scoops of the ricotta cheese mixture over noodles and spread evenly.

Spread 6 ounces of cooked sausage over ricotta cheese mixture, then spread 4 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese over Sausage and ricotta cheese mixture.

Sprinkle 3 ounces of grated Parmesan cheese over entire layer.

Repeat layering steps three more times for a total of four layers.

To Bake: Cover lasagna with foil and bake for one hour. Remove foil and continue baking for another 15 minutes – to brown the top. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Serve with Italian bread or garlic bread.