Little casseroles like this freeze really well too. Just pack in foil, then cling film, then parchment, and you can store a few of these in the freezer for dinner in a pinch. Especially great if you have a random eat-in date night or a friend come over with little notice. I have a couple small lasagnas and baked zitis stored in the freezer at all times just for this reason. Edit: the multiple layers of packaging help prevent freezer burn. Plus it's easy to write the instructions on the parchment.
Perfect timing with this! I have a friend with ALS and I like to make him foods he likes. He asked me if I would make him a lasagna just a couple of weeks ago. Well I am not much for lasagna so I put it off. Now I am happy to say I have no excuse so this Friday he will have lasagna for the week end! Thank you so much
I hydrate the pasta in boiling water for a minute. I lay them out on paper towels to dry. I like the taste better because sometimes some of the pasta tastes uncooked to me
I appreciate these so much. Not everyone has a huge family to cook for every night. Minus when we are visiting my folks, it is just my husband and I (child-free folks) for dinner.
Me too! I'm thinking this might be just right if doubled. Doubled, it would fit an 8x8 perfectly. And looks like it would finish a whole pack of noodles! 💕🌞🌵😷
I love this. Julia is just the very best and I watch her every chance I get. This is the perfect size for an older couple who don't eat quite as much as they once did. Plus there might be a small bit of left over for next day lunch. I also would like to freeze several for those nights I'm too tired to dream up dinner. Thank you.
This recipe looks tasty! However, unless you have no fridge or freezer space, I rarely see the advantage of making smaller quantities of recipes like lasagna that reheat well. Restaurants don't make lasagnas to order, they're pre-baked and finished on demand. If anything, I think lasagna is better after it cools and is reheated, as it becomes more cohesive. Making 3-4x the quantity requires very little extra work, especially once you include cleaning up. Lasagna also freezes wonderfully, baked or unbaked. That said, freezing smaller ones in loaf pans is a great way to portion up lasanga for 2 people, and you don't need to have a special deep, full-size lasagna pan. I'll definitely use that idea!
Looks delicious, Julia. Only change I might make (based on my own homemade spaghetti sauce recipe) is to add some dried oregano and a few red pepper flakes with the garlic when making the sauce. Looking forward to trying this. Thanks for sharing.
A mini lasagna 😋 what a concept 💡 during my adult life I became use to cooking for five, well now I'm only one and retired. I am going to make this just for myself, thankyou ☺
I make a similar recipe, with cottage cheese instead of ricotta, at least a few times a month. My trick is to assemble it at lunch when I'm working from home. Let it sit 5-6 hours in the refrigerator until time to bake at dinner That way you can even use regular noodles, without boiling, and they cook up fine in under an hour.
Such a simple idea that I never would have thought of. And a great way to use leftover sauce from a big batch made for other purposes. I definitely will be doing this with my mushroom marinara for this pescatarian household.
Great recipe. The only problem is that you cannot meat or ricotta in those small portions at most grocery stores. The solution, I guess, would be to buy a 1/2 each of meat and a small container of ricotta and make two. You would have to adjust the amount of tomatoes and onion. You could bake them in two disposable loaf tins. Then freeze one once cooled for another time.
My husband and I do something similar since it's just the two of us, but I swap out the lasagna noodles for zucchini sliced lengthwise. I reduce the tomato sauce by a little to compensate for the water that's released by the zucchini. Delicious and low carb! (I also replace part or all of the mince with loose Italian sausage for extra flavor)
She’s making one mistake. Never cover a tomato based dish with foil alone. The acid from the tomato can oxidize the aluminum. I always cover it with parchment then foil.
Oh, that's such a cute presentation for a small serving of lasagna! I love the idea of smaller servings, really makes the leftovers manageable living as just a couple.
Looks very tasty, however, i would do the layering differently because the no boil noodles are convenient but so thin, i prefer a thicker, more 'toothsome' lasagna noodle, but, with these noodles i would layer as follows: olive oil the loaf pan, add small amount of tomato meat sauce to bottom of pan and top with noodle. Add a more generous meat sauce layer and top with mozzarella. Place noodle over that, add a thick layer of the ricotta & egg mixture, add another noodle layer. Repeat, the previous two layers up to nearly the top of the pan. Finish with a final sauce and cheese layer and parmesan cheese topping all. Esthetically i think the layers would look more defined and maintain structure even as the flavours & sauce mingle during the cooking process.
I'm single and try to make meals that are enough for two meals: dinner when it's hot and reheated as lunch the next day. This will fit perfectly! Thank you JAH!
That was a wonderful demonstration for a smaller version of lasagna. Perfect for me. I didn’t know that 2 types of ground meat should be used. I will definitely try this recipe especially with no boil lasagna noodles.
Great make ahead freezer recipe!! I live with my aging mother so most of the time, I'm only cooking for us. This is perfect. Would love if you started a playlist of "For Two" recipes!!! Thanks, Julia!!
Yum! Thank you Julia, great idea with small portion recipes, we are empty-nesters & no longer cooking for an army! according to my father-in-law…😂 may he rest in peace. I just love to cook to have more & have leftovers than just not having enough foods. So, your recipes will help me tremendously, Thank you again, 🫶😻🐶🙏🕉☮️❤️
The best, creamiest lasagna ingredient is... cream cheese! Alternate it on the layers w ricotta and everyone will wonder what you did to make it SOO DELICIOUS AND CREAMY DREAMY❣
I love ATK, and this recipe looks amazing. I will say tho this recipe is pretty much the same amount of work as making a full dish of lasagna. Idk if id want to spend this much time w/o leftovers... Its just me and my wife and I make a 9x13 dish. Half of it feeds us dinner and lunch then freeze the other half (i know its not as good but super convenientto to reheat). I guess to me its nearly as much effort but gone to fast 😢 But its all good whatever people choose.
These were my thoughts as well! In fact, I'd rather make a full dish simply because I'd use all of the raw ingredients like the ricotta, block of mozz, can of tomatoes, etc. I don't buy '6oz' cans of tomatoes, 8oz of ground meat, and 3 sheets of lasagna noodles. May as well just make the full recipe and freeze it... or just eat it until it is gone - no one gets sick of lasagna.
You can make this recipe using plain old boxed dry lasagne noodles (cheaper!), just bake for longer (45 mins total) before taking off the foil for the last 15-20 mins. It will be slightly less sloppy with more pronounced layers. If you like it looser, don’t drain the tomatoes of their juice.
This is very similar to the way I’ve made lasagna for years… my tip is to spread the ricotta mixture onto the ready-to-cook noodles before adding them to the bread pan
I also like it with sausage meat, and with cut up pieces of Italian sausage. Thanks for the tip about packaged shredded mozzarella cheese, I always wondered why it didn't melt well
Julia it looks delicious!!! I noticed you didn’t cook the meat separately to drain the fat. That’s the only thing I would do differently since I don’t like the fat in the meat. Looking forward to making it. 😊
That recipe is perfect for my husband and I who are empty nesters. When I make lasagne, I usually end up with far too much and we have to eat it for days,
I might try this, only doubled, since I usually cook for 2 nights for my wife and me. 2 loaf pans: one to eat now and the other to the fridge overnight.
What neighborhood do you live in where you can buy 4 oz of ground meat? Me, I would have to buy at least a pound each of beef and pork, then I would be compelled to cook the rest right away or throw it away. Same for the ricotta, though there's not such a strict deadline. 2. Where do I get the invisible folk - elves, maybe - who put bowls of freshly grated cheeses on my counter? A tired parent who's been going since 6 AM could really use some of those.
I’m not a big fan of sweet ricotta cheese for savoury dishes. I am substituting the same amount of cottage cheese, whizzed around in my mini chopper or using my immersion blender, to get the smoother texture of ricotta. Also pre-hydrating the lasagna noodles as another commenter suggests, as I find them a bit too hard and undercooked-tasting otherwise. This looks so delicious!
As an older single person living alone these smaller recipes are a great help!
ditto as middle-aged single. always need more bachelor chow
Little casseroles like this freeze really well too. Just pack in foil, then cling film, then parchment, and you can store a few of these in the freezer for dinner in a pinch. Especially great if you have a random eat-in date night or a friend come over with little notice. I have a couple small lasagnas and baked zitis stored in the freezer at all times just for this reason.
Edit: the multiple layers of packaging help prevent freezer burn. Plus it's easy to write the instructions on the parchment.
@@TheHomerowKeys That's nice to know. That was my first question. Thank you.
Yes. Need more single person dishes.
. I agree.
I appreciate these small portion recipes! ⭐
@@fabbi9548 Yes, a lot of recipes are for large groups.
you don’t boil the noodles first before layering tthem in the dish?
I love the Julia at Home series. This lasagna is probably one of the best.
As a teenager living alone, these smaller recipes are a great help!
This is a perfect recipe for me as I live alone. Dinner for one and then leftovers the next night! Who doesn’t like leftover lasagna…
Perfect timing with this! I have a friend with ALS and I like to make him foods he likes. He asked me if I would make him a lasagna just a couple of weeks ago. Well I am not much for lasagna so I put it off. Now I am happy to say I have no excuse so this Friday he will have lasagna for the week end! Thank you so much
OMG!!! This is perfect for a bachelor like me. I hope to see more smaller meals like this. Thank you Julia.
I LOVE THIS WOMAN. I've watched her for years, and I love her more with every episode.
ive done this lasagna 100's of times and it comes out so delicious, ATK's cooking for two and cooking for one cookbooks are amazing
I hydrate the pasta in boiling water for a minute. I lay them out on paper towels to dry. I like the taste better because sometimes some of the pasta tastes uncooked to me
Good tip!
yes me too i cook it longer
Thanks for that advice, I feel the same about ‘no bake’ lasagna noodles. Great tip😊
I appreciate these so much. Not everyone has a huge family to cook for every night. Minus when we are visiting my folks, it is just my husband and I (child-free folks) for dinner.
I love this. The only thing I do different is I add a dash of red wine to the meat mixture when raw(helps break it down).
ATK: this lasagna serves 2.5 people
ME: laughs in Italian
I know 🎉😂, it's for one Italian person ❤🤪🤣🤣
@@chordsofgratitude2073 Not Italian, but I would eat the whole thing too. It's perfect for one person. 😂
Me (a grown arse man): "So, I'm eating alone tonight?!?!" 😢
@@ManyGhosts, IKR? 😂 This can be a hearty meal for one! ❤
dinner and second dinner
This is a great idea for us two retired folks,but we also like left overs for the next dinner or two as well as maybe some lunch`s.
Me too! I'm thinking this might be just right if doubled. Doubled, it would fit an 8x8 perfectly. And looks like it would finish a whole pack of noodles! 💕🌞🌵😷
Smaller recipes or sized down versions of large classic family meals are the best. I would love to see more of them.
Thank you! This is perfect for an active retired couple! A new use for my Emile Henry loaf dish!!
I love this. Julia is just the very best and I watch her every chance I get. This is the perfect size for an older couple who don't eat quite as much as they once did. Plus there might be a small bit of left over for next day lunch. I also would like to freeze several for those nights I'm too tired to dream up dinner. Thank you.
This recipe looks tasty! However, unless you have no fridge or freezer space, I rarely see the advantage of making smaller quantities of recipes like lasagna that reheat well. Restaurants don't make lasagnas to order, they're pre-baked and finished on demand. If anything, I think lasagna is better after it cools and is reheated, as it becomes more cohesive. Making 3-4x the quantity requires very little extra work, especially once you include cleaning up. Lasagna also freezes wonderfully, baked or unbaked.
That said, freezing smaller ones in loaf pans is a great way to portion up lasanga for 2 people, and you don't need to have a special deep, full-size lasagna pan. I'll definitely use that idea!
This is one of my favorite recipes from the Cooking for Two cookbook!
I'm ordering it right now!!
Looks delicious, Julia. Only change I might make (based on my own homemade spaghetti sauce recipe) is to add some dried oregano and a few red pepper flakes with the garlic when making the sauce. Looking forward to trying this. Thanks for sharing.
Dried oregano sounds like it would be very good to add!
A mini lasagna 😋 what a concept 💡 during my adult life I became use to cooking for five, well now I'm only one and retired. I am going to make this just for myself, thankyou ☺
I make a similar recipe, with cottage cheese instead of ricotta, at least a few times a month. My trick is to assemble it at lunch when I'm working from home. Let it sit 5-6 hours in the refrigerator until time to bake at dinner That way you can even use regular noodles, without boiling, and they cook up fine in under an hour.
I just can't get behind the cottage cheese in lasagna.
I ran an Italian restaurant in NY for years, just need to do ricotta...
Love the scaled down version!
Such a simple idea that I never would have thought of. And a great way to use leftover sauce from a big batch made for other purposes. I definitely will be doing this with my mushroom marinara for this pescatarian household.
Great recipe. The only problem is that you cannot meat or ricotta in those small portions at most grocery stores. The solution, I guess, would be to buy a 1/2 each of meat and a small container of ricotta and make two. You would have to adjust the amount of tomatoes and onion. You could bake them in two disposable loaf tins. Then freeze one once cooled for another time.
I know it's not common, but I freeze cheese all the time.
I'd have no problem throwing leftover ricotta in the freezer.
My husband and I do something similar since it's just the two of us, but I swap out the lasagna noodles for zucchini sliced lengthwise. I reduce the tomato sauce by a little to compensate for the water that's released by the zucchini. Delicious and low carb! (I also replace part or all of the mince with loose Italian sausage for extra flavor)
Looking forward to try
Love her cooking. I enjoy watching her cook and then cook the dish
I use italian sausage and beef combo for the meat sauce. Also will sometimes top with pepperoni like you would a pizza
Love it! Would love to see more of the small recipes for two!
She’s making one mistake. Never cover a tomato based dish with foil alone. The acid from the tomato can oxidize the aluminum. I always cover it with parchment then foil.
Oh, that's such a cute presentation for a small serving of lasagna! I love the idea of smaller servings, really makes the leftovers manageable living as just a couple.
This looks great. I love these smaller versions of recipes as I’m only cooking for two. Thanks so much 😊
The point about the noodles fitting a loaf pan was clever!
Looks DELICIOUS! As I am just cooking for myself, I really don't want to make a BIG pan of Lasagna. And this quick recipe is just perfect!
Looks out of this world! I must have someone make it this for me cuz I'm not able to cook anymore. They will want some also.❤❤
This is perfect for bringing to a new mom and dad! I can't wait to make this for my friends!
Perfect for just us two seniors. Two meals. It freezes well.
Absolutely delicious! Haven’t made a lasagna for about 20 years. The small size gave me confidence. ❤
Julia’s uploads have been on fire lately.
So great to have a recipe for 2! Lasagna is something I don’t tackle for just 2. I will now! Thank you!
I love this smaller version greatly, thank you so very much.
Margot
New Zealand
Looks very tasty, however, i would do the layering differently because the no boil noodles are convenient but so thin, i prefer a thicker, more 'toothsome' lasagna noodle, but, with these noodles i would layer as follows: olive oil the loaf pan, add small amount of tomato meat sauce to bottom of pan and top with noodle. Add a more generous meat sauce layer and top with mozzarella. Place noodle over that, add a thick layer of the ricotta & egg mixture, add another noodle layer. Repeat, the previous two layers up to nearly the top of the pan. Finish with a final sauce and cheese layer and parmesan cheese topping all. Esthetically i think the layers would look more defined and maintain structure even as the flavours & sauce mingle during the cooking process.
We need more of these smaller potions!! 😊 Can’t wait to try! Thanks
I can't believe how quick that was! ❤
Watching this at 3:30 AM and I want to make this now! Can’t wait for daylight. ☺️
This is a super recipe for lasagna. I make it for 2-3 and always make a 2nd and 3rd to freeze. It also works great tripled for a crowd.😊
Love the painting behind you, and learned something, thanks!
Great recipe! Hey, I saw a cute doggie right at the end. Love it.
Seems like a great recipe with full flavor! I want to make a big pan of it!
I'm single and try to make meals that are enough for two meals: dinner when it's hot and reheated as lunch the next day. This will fit perfectly! Thank you JAH!
Julia, I too am appreciative of this size as I'm single and I know when I bake a lasagna, I tend to overeat. This is perfect for 2 meals.
love this recipe. Thank you. Perfect for household of two
That was a wonderful demonstration for a smaller version of lasagna. Perfect for me. I didn’t know that 2 types of ground meat should be used. I will definitely try this recipe especially with no boil lasagna noodles.
The diced tomatoes are something I'll definitely try. They look very nice.
love the scaled down size of recipes
Omg so saving this! Looks delicious ❣️🤗😘🙏
Glad finally cooking for a few people
Thank u, im going to try this. Perfect for me & my husband.
Great make ahead freezer recipe!! I live with my aging mother so most of the time, I'm only cooking for us. This is perfect. Would love if you started a playlist of "For Two" recipes!!! Thanks, Julia!!
Their website has many recipes for two and they've published a few 'for two' cookbooks including one with 650 recipes about 10 years ago.
@@charlieharris3240 I figured they did but I'm more of a visual learner so love to see the recipes come together more than just reading the recipe.
Great job today as per usual, yeah 👍🏻 Can’t wait to try the cute little lasagna idea -
☮️🙋🏼♀️🌴
Definitely going to try! Did anyone else notice the dog’s head near the counter? I’d say the recipe has a 4-paw review! 😆🐾🐾❤️
Paw-itively!
Ziggy!
Yum! Thank you Julia, great idea with small portion recipes, we are empty-nesters & no longer cooking for an army! according to my father-in-law…😂 may he rest in peace. I just love to cook to have more & have leftovers than just not having enough foods. So, your recipes will help me tremendously, Thank you again, 🫶😻🐶🙏🕉☮️❤️
Hhmm good idea small portions 👍👍👍
It’s early morn here in UK and I am salivating 😂
Thanks for recipe, more recipes for two
👍👍👍👍👍👍🇬🇧
This looks delicious. Perfect for a small family or single person. I always use all beef. That’s just my thing. Thanks for another great recipe!😊
I’ve mostly been making the “pancake lasagna” recipe from Food Wishes lately. It sounds weird, but the crepe-like egg noodles are great.
The best, creamiest lasagna ingredient is... cream cheese! Alternate it on the layers w ricotta and everyone will wonder what you did to make it SOO DELICIOUS AND CREAMY DREAMY❣
I love ATK, and this recipe looks amazing. I will say tho this recipe is pretty much the same amount of work as making a full dish of lasagna. Idk if id want to spend this much time w/o leftovers... Its just me and my wife and I make a 9x13 dish. Half of it feeds us dinner and lunch then freeze the other half (i know its not as good but super convenientto to reheat). I guess to me its nearly as much effort but gone to fast 😢 But its all good whatever people choose.
These were my thoughts as well! In fact, I'd rather make a full dish simply because I'd use all of the raw ingredients like the ricotta, block of mozz, can of tomatoes, etc. I don't buy '6oz' cans of tomatoes, 8oz of ground meat, and 3 sheets of lasagna noodles. May as well just make the full recipe and freeze it... or just eat it until it is gone - no one gets sick of lasagna.
I recently started adding smoked mozzarella to lasagna and it’s amazing.
Love this recipe. Perfect for 2 people. ❤
Thank-you so very much!!! This helps us odd single folks out a lot!
What's so odd about being single? 😅😂😅
You can make this recipe using plain old boxed dry lasagne noodles (cheaper!), just bake for longer (45 mins total) before taking off the foil for the last 15-20 mins. It will be slightly less sloppy with more pronounced layers. If you like it looser, don’t drain the tomatoes of their juice.
This is very similar to the way I’ve made lasagna for years… my tip is to spread the ricotta mixture onto the ready-to-cook noodles before adding them to the bread pan
'JULIA'S ATK!'
Thank you Julia.
Now, I'm very hungry!
Your kitchen is lovely 😍
Makes it easy to do for a weeknight vs. all day making a sauce. Thanks, Julia!
I won't look at a bag of pre-shredded cheese the same anymore👍
That was very useful information.
I also like it with sausage meat, and with cut up pieces of Italian sausage. Thanks for the tip about packaged shredded mozzarella cheese, I always wondered why it didn't melt well
Julia it looks delicious!!! I noticed you didn’t cook the meat separately to drain the fat. That’s the only thing I would do differently since I don’t like the fat in the meat. Looking forward to making it. 😊
"Sister",...loving that Rosie the riveter vibe you've cooked up!
I love this Lasagna! I will be making it again soon!❤
Thinking of replacing the pork with some sweet Italian sausage.
That recipe is perfect for my husband and I who are empty nesters. When I make lasagne, I usually end up with far too much and we have to eat it for days,
It freezes very well. I freeze individual slices and take to work for lunch.
Thanks Julia, I definitely need to make this for my family soon. But I have to triple the recipe 😋
In all of her videos, every time Julia says "ho ho ho!" as an expression of how much she loves what she's just prepared, it just lifts my spirits.
I absolutely love that about her! She is a true foodie!!
Can’t wait to make this!
Lasagna in a loaf pan is brilliant!! 😋
This is just smart
I might try this, only doubled, since I usually cook for 2 nights for my wife and me. 2 loaf pans: one to eat now and the other to the fridge overnight.
Loving this!❤
This looks so yummy😋 and definitely great for 1 or 2🤗
I love this lady❣️😘🙏
Thank you, it’s looks so delicious.
I mean I'd be adding more cheese layers but that's just me. It's the cutest little lasagna I love it!
A good flavor alternative is ground pork sausage instead of the ground pork. Gives it a kick of flavor.
Perfect amount!🥰
The first time I made lasagna I used ground lamb for the meat. So good!
Always remember,
lasagna freezes great!
What neighborhood do you live in where you can buy 4 oz of ground meat? Me, I would have to buy at least a pound each of beef and pork, then I would be compelled to cook the rest right away or throw it away. Same for the ricotta, though there's not such a strict deadline. 2. Where do I get the invisible folk - elves, maybe - who put bowls of freshly grated cheeses on my counter? A tired parent who's been going since 6 AM could really use some of those.
I’m not a big fan of sweet ricotta cheese for savoury dishes. I am substituting the same amount of cottage cheese, whizzed around in my mini chopper or using my immersion blender, to get the smoother texture of ricotta. Also pre-hydrating the lasagna noodles as another commenter suggests, as I find them a bit too hard and undercooked-tasting otherwise. This looks so delicious!