Thanks to a blog post I published sometime last year, my friend Polly shared with me a tip about making lasagna: don’t boil the lasagna sheets! Apparently all you have to do is add water to each sheet , and cook the whole dish in the oven for a little longer. You can pierce the lasagna to check if it’s done, and you’re rewarded with firmer lasagna that doesn’t take too long to cook!

I was stunned that I had never heard this before, but I tried it, and it was a success! Thanks to this tip, I have been much more diligent about making lasagna, and it is now one of the go-to dishes in our household. I mean, just add tomato sauce, cheese, and meat (or tuna!) and you’re good to go.

THANK YOU POLLY!

Ahem. So, a few weeks ago, I made lasagna. As always, I was just working with whatever I had in the kitchen.

Ingredients

• Lasagna sheets
• Ham: I had some leftover from Christmas, sliced into strips. To be honest it wasn’t very good ham on its own, but mixed into other dishes, it turned out quite nice.
• Tomato sauce
• Bacon Crumble: I used the whole pack!
• Dried parsley flakes
• Cheese: To be completely honest, I don’t remember what cheese I used for this.
• Pork broth: Whenever we have pork, we usually boil it to tenderize it before marinating or storing in the freezer. I always keep the brother for soups and sauces, keeping it in a container in the freezer.

Procedure

1. Cook bacon in the oven until it’s about half cooked.
2. Bring pork broth to a simmer.
3. Arrange lasagna sheets in baking dish. Drizzle with enough broth to get the sheet wet, but not soaking. Arrange ham, cheese and tomato sauce. Sprinkle with parsley flakes.
4. Add another layer of lasagna sheets. Drizzle with broth. Add about half the bacon crumble. Add cheese and tomato sauce. Sprinkle with parsley flakes.
5. Add another layer of lasagna sheets. Drizzle with broth. Add about the remaining bacon crumble. Add cheese and tomato sauce. Sprinkle with parsley flakes.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes on low heat. Get a fork or a skewer and check if it goes through the lasagna easily. It’s really up to you how al dente you want your lasagna.
7. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes on high to get the top layer of bacon nice and crunchy.
8. Serve immediately!

Because there were only three layers, and not a lot of heavy meats or any vegetables, this was a pretty light lasagna. But I threw it together with little effort, and that’s good enough for me!