Dutch Oven Lasagna

[Ziva David]

In case anyone's interested, here's the original recipe.  It was in the cookbook I got with my first microwave, back in the early 1980s.

Lasagna
1 1/2 t. olive oil
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 c. ricotta cheese
2 t. parsley flakes
32 oz. spaghetti sauce
6 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
2 T. grated or shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese
   Put oil and ground beef in glass pie plate.  Cover with waxed paper and cook on high 2 minutes, or until meat is no longer pink.  Stir and break meat apart once.  Drain fat.  Set aside.
   Combine 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, egg, ricotta, and parsley.
   Pour 1 c. spaghetti sauce over bottom of 1 1/2 quart glass baking dish.  Put 1/3 of uncooked noodles in a layer on sauce.  Break to fit if necessary.  Layer with half each of mozzarella, beef, and cheese mixture.  Repeat layers.  Put remaining noodles over cheese mixture.    Spread remaining sauce over top.  Cover with waxed paper.  Cook on high 15 minutes.  Rotate 1/4 turn and cook 20 minutes at medium, or until noodles are done.
   Remove dish from oven.  Cover with aluminum foil and let stand 20 minutes.  Before serving, sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.

Over all the years, I've never browned the beef in the microwave but always used a pan on the stove.  I used to use a shallow Corningware dish with a lid to make this in, but I finally got sick of it always running over and bought a deep Corningware dish with lid.  Works great and no more giant mess in the oven.  Using a glass lid eliminates any need for wax paper or foil.

As you can see, I've modded this recipe considerably over the years, little by little, until it morphed into the DO recipe I posted at the beginning of this thread.  The DO recipe is pretty close to the way I make it in the microwave these days, too.

[Jean]

Sorry about resurrecting such an old post, but I was trying to think of something to eat using the do for our camping trip this weekend. As I was searching about, I remembered this recipe.

So, my 1st question is, when everything was converted, numbers were missing. This looks correct though. Is it?

Lasagna
1 lb. hamburger, browned and cooled
1 egg
2 c. cottage cheese
2 t. parsley (optional)
8 oz. mozzarella, divided
4 c. tomato sauce
2 t. Italian seasoning, or to taste
9 lasagna noodles, uncooked
Pour 1 c. tomato sauce into greased #12 DO.  Sprinkle with some of the Italian seasoning.  Lay 3 noodles in the sauce, breaking to fit as necessary.  In bowl, mix egg, cottage cheese, 6 oz. mozzarella, hamburger, and parsley.  Spread half of mixture over noodles in DO.  Repeat layers, ending with noodles.  Pour remaining sauce over all, making sure to cover all the noodles completely.  Sprinkle with remaining Italian seasoning, then remaining cheese.  Bake with one ring of coals under DO and a ring and a half on lid until noodles are done.

Spirit Deer, you mentioned one time that I could cut it in 1/2 using an 8", could I cut it in 1/2 using a 10"?

Second, I'm wondering if someone else has some opinions for me. Dh is a diabetic and supposed to be low carb. We/he have been doing very well. His blood sugar is under control and I've been cooking very low carb with lots of veggies.

The other night, some frozen dinner commercial was on and they were showing a pasta dish. Dh and I both looked longingly at it, and even commented about it. I'm thinking lasagne would be a better "treat" then spaghetti in that there is more "other stuff" to noodles. At home, I would fix this with a salad and pre-dh diabetes, a loaf of bread. I don't do salads while I'm camping and I'm thinking as good as the garlic bread would taste, it would be too much.

Thoughts? Comments? Help?

Jean

[Spirit Deer]

The lasagna recipe looks okay.  I think it was only the zeroes that disappeared when the forum was moved. 

It's really easy to pack along a salad.  Do all the slicing and prepping at home and put it in a bag, except for stuff like chopped tomatoes.  Put the dressing in separate small Tupperware containers to save space.  You can eat it out of the bags if you want, too.

Coleslaw is even easier to take. 

Or do like I do and make a garden salad out of everything that needs to be used in the fridge by just cutting up broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, black or green olives, onion, cherry tomatoes, etc, etc.  Mix that all up and add zesty Italian dressing just before serving.  If you only add the dressing to each person's serving instead of the entire mixture, it keeps much better.  If you add cubed ham, cooked chicken, cheese cubes, etc. this can also be a main dish.

A seven-layer salad works well too if you make it in a small square Tupperware dish.

Chunks of onion, zucchini, yellow summer squash, etc. are sooooo tasty grilled over a wood fire.

[Spirit Deer]

Forgot to mention, you should be able to make a half batch in a #10.  Be sure to adjust the time and check it so it doesn't scorch, as it may cook a little faster because there are less ingredients.  You could also use a smaller pan inside the DO if you're more comfortable doing that but it shouldn't be necessary.

[maromeo]

Jean,

Spirit Deer is an inspiration to all of us with her helpful information. She helped me out with my Girl Scout outing using the DO and recipes.

As far as the low carb help. There is pasta made by Dreamfield that is lower carb and higher protein that you could substitute and maybe not use as many noodles. I usually double up on the meats(more protein) and less on the noodles. I generally precook my meats (i'll sometimes mix lean hamburger meat and italian sausage and add some italian seasoning while cooking). I put it in my foodsaver bags and freeze until I pack the cooler. It also helps to keep things cold. I take it out of the cooler an hour or two before I plan on cooking it to defrost. I try to keep things simple.

Mary Romeo

[Jean]

Spirit Deer, you did it once again! The Lasagna was fantastic. Dh loved it (and he doesn't like lasagna). We rode our bikes to an ice cream shop before dinner, and they were bar b queing dinner up. This guy asked Dh if we were staying for dinner and he said no, we had do lasagna. This kid asked if we were putting Stouffers in or making our own. He seemed very perplexed by this.

I took a salad along and it worked out well. I made it ahead like you said. I kept it in the dorm fridge since I wasn't sure what ice would do it it.

Jean

[Spirit Deer]

Glad it worked out, Jean!  Being basically lazy, I love that recipe because it's easy to put together since the pasta is uncooked.  The hamburger can be browned at home, too, and the cottage cheese mixture put together at home.  If all of that is done ahead, assembling it at camp is pretty simple without much mess.

If your ice is extra cold like ours is, it can freeze lettuce so you do have to be a little cautious.  I love salads because it's such an easy side dish and goes with any meal or can even be tucked into a sandwich.

[Camping Queen]

I can't wait to try out this recipe!  DH has been looking to buy another DO (the other one is a  7 qt and is too large for some dishes), so this will give me a great recipe to inaugurate the new one.  I also love salad with my meal, and will often buy the "kit" type when camping in order to save time.  There are some yummy varieties (a Southwestern and an Asian one I especially remember) and even though you might spend a bit more, they come with add-ins that would be inconvenient to pack from home.  Happy camping, and good eating, everyone!!!

[Spirit Deer]

Try the microwave version at home, too.  Really good, pretty simple, and makes great leftovers which can also be frozen.

[MrBigDog2U]

Made this again for the potluck at this year's Oregon Spring Rally. I was thinking about making a double batch but, since we had kind of a small group, I decided to just stick with a single again.

Big mistake.

If you're going to be serving more than about 6 or maybe 8 people, make sure to make more than one batch. Otherwise, people will be complaining that there wasn't enough lasagna to go around.

[Beerlifter]

I made it for the third time this last weekend @ Greenleaf SP and fed 4 adults and 3 teenagers and still had half a DO full. Everyone loved it and were complaining they had eaten too much!!

Our neighbors there (the other 2 adults) were just in awe that we were cooking lasagna at a campground!! We were sitting around the DO visiting and Bill kept saying "I can smell it, I can smell it!!". About 35 minutes into the cook I popped the top off to check it and they both looked in and the look on there face was priceless!!!!

[rabird]

Forth of fifth time recently - of course using hot italian sauage.
I use a 10 and the lasagna is nice and think so I cut back on the top coals, easier than adjusting the recipe and having left over ingredients! With all the extras I add, I should split it into 2 lasagnas.
I eat this at the Harri Krishna restaurant made with spinach, it's great, I've threated to try it, at least one layer. Added baby bella mushrooms this last time. Ummmm.

[Spirit Deer]

I haven't done anything about spinach lasagna in the DO yet, but I might have to give that a try.  I'm always looking for good vegetarian stuff to try. Anyone got a recipe?

I like cold lasagna too (the kind with meat and tomato sauce) so leftovers work well for us.  Or they can be wrapped in foil and reheated on a gas grill or over the fire.  It's easier to heat evenly if the block of lasagna is broken up and made into sort of a flat layer instead of staying in one big chunk.