Olivia’s Lasagna alla Vodka

serves 8

one of my favorite Sunday meals! my father is italian, so i grew up eating a lot of authentic italian food… and I am picky! Ingredients SO matter! I buy Italian sourced durum wheat, no-boil lasagna noodles for this recipe. sometimes i will make this without meat and serve with a nice piece of fish or steak.

ingredients:

• 1 pack of Italian sourced durum wheat, no-boil lasagna noodles (I love the whole foods brand)

for the meaty sauce:

• 2 tbsp. pure olive oil

• 1 carton of Pomi chopped tomatoes or any italian grown tomatoes in can or carton (without citric acid in the ingredient list)

• 1 cup organic vodka (i grab the one available at whole foods in liquor section ~$13)

• 1 medium organic sweet onion, chopped

• 1 pound of 100% grassfed ground beef (i use 85/15 fattier the better)

• 1 cup organic high quality heavy cream

• sea salt and freshly ground pepper

• fresh organic basil leaves, chopped

for the ricotta cheese layer:

• 15 oz ricotta cheese (i personally love using Bellwether’s Sheep Milk Ricotta— most whole foods carries on the mid/west coast)

• 1 egg

• 1/2 head of italian parsley, tops trimmed and chopped

• sea salt to taste

• freshly ground pepper

• raw parmesan cheese, grated

optional addition!

• sliced burrata to be layered in the lasagna with the ricotta for an extra cheesy experience

directions:

• preheat your oven to 350°F

• start by warming olive oil in a large pot like in the picture on medium/low heat.

• brown and sweat the chopped onion for 5 minutes.

  • in the meantime, in a separate pan, cook the pound of ground beef and set aside to add to the sauce later on.

• pour the vodka into the pot with the onions and allow to cook down on medium heat. Once the vodka/alcohol smell is diminished, pour in the chopped tomatoes.

• & for the fun part!! my favorite kitchen tool - grab an immersion blender!! use an immersion blender or a food processor to blend the tomatoes, vodka, and onions into a fine sauce with no chunkiness (unless you like your sauce a little chunky).

• once smooth, allow to simmer for 3 minutes and add the heavy cream, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and 1/2 chopped basil leaves to the sauce and allow to simmer for another 5 minutes.

• add the cooked ground beef to the vodka sauce.

• in a small glass bowl, throw the ricotta cheese , egg, parsley, sea salt, pepper, and as much parmigiano as you desire. mix!

• assemble your lasagana! if you’ve never done this before, don’t sweat! Its truly super easy. Look up a quick youtube video if you need to.

• Grab your lasagna pan / dish. I use a glass pyrex pan. 13x9 works great but any size pan works, it will just depends how you layer the pasta. i love deeper pans for lasagna too so you can layer it!

• begin by putting a small layer of meat sauce in the pan.

• place the first layer of no-boil lasagna noodles down and spreading ricotta mixture on the tops of your noddles. layer some sliced burrata as well if you chose to use this too! you should have a layer of cheesy goodness.

• add a layer of meaty sauce over the cheese layer and begin another layer of lasagna noodles, ricotta, cheese, sauce, repeat!

• Finish with meaty sauce once you are at the rim of the pan , be sure to leave at least a bit of room at the top so your sauce does not bubble over and destroy your oven! (been there, done that)

• finish with a layer of parm or just 1/2 your chopped basil leaves as I have pictured.

• bake for 40 minutes or until the noodles are al dente. you can use a fork to poke the noodles if needed.

enjoy!