No boil Lasagna, and also gluten free
My appearance today on NH's ABC WMUR Cooks Corner making lasagna without cooking lasagna noodles in advance, use gluten free or wheat noodles, otherwise recipe is the same. Use different meats, alfredo or homemade cheese sauce instead of tomato sauce, lots and lots of veggies instead of meat, spinach and cooked pork is great. Prep night before, fridge and then cook next day. Also one of my recipes for New England Celiac Magazine (now National Celiac) for September 2016.
I made this on NH's ABC WMUR Cooks Corner on Friday 8 September, 2017, Traditional version with marinara sauce and ricotta.
http://www.wmur.com/article/cook-s-corner-gluten-free-lasagna/12199634
I first made a slow cooker lasagna summer 2014. Needed to eat something other than grilled meat and salad without turning on the a/c or heating up the house. I would only use the slow cooker while you're home since it only needed about 2 hours on high or 4 hours on low. Plus timings will vary based on slow cooker, amount of ingredients and whether it was cooked cold from fridge. So you need to experiment first time. Pre gfd I used to make lasagna with no boil wheat noodles, water added to tomato/meat sauce and more milk or water added to ricotta layer. Layered and left in fridge overnight, noodles start absorbing extra liquid and take about 1-1+1/2 hours to cook. I've found you can also do this with both Jovial no boil gf noodles and Tinkyada lasagna noodles that say to cook first – I didn't. Jovial 9 oz box is 12 sheets so double recipe for 9x13. I do prefer Tinkyada, easier to find and cheaper. Most gf noodles seem to be longer for length of 9x13 so you have to break them for 8x8. Update September 2017, Barilla now make no boil gluten free lasagna noodles that fit 8x8.
Play with filling ingredients to your taste. This is mild, creamy, not heavily cheese tasting.
1 large egg or 1/4 c egg substitute
15- to 16-ounce container part-skim or whole ricotta
1/2 c milk
2 cups shredded part-skim or whole pizza cheese divided
1/4 c chopped fresh basil,
2 tbsp fresh green of green onions
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
pinch of garlic powder or 2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Al Fresco cooked chicken sun dried tomato sausages (6 oz total) cut into thin slices, or shredded cooked chicken, or any cooked sausage.
4 medium size button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced.
1 x 24 oz (3 cup) jar of spaghetti sauce. I used Classico traditional sweet basil, also gf. I've also used Classic Alfredo, bit salty and peppery.
1 c water
6 raw gf lasagna noodles.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Oil or Pam
1. Mix ricotta cheese, egg, milk, basil, green onion, garlic and 1 cup pizza cheese together.
2. Spray inside of slow cooker with pam or brush with olive oil or 8x8 pan.
3. Mix water and spaghetti sauce and pour 2 cups into bottom of slow cooker or 8x8 pan.
4. Break 3 of the lasagna noodles and arrange on top. It doesn't matter if they break unevenly, just do the best you can.
5. Spread ricotta mix on top.
6. Scatter sausage and mushrooms on top of ricotta mix and gently press into ricotta.
7. Top with 3 of the lasagna noodles and arrange on top. It doesn't matter if they break unevenly, just do the best you can.
8. Pour remaining 2 cups of spaghetti sauce on top and spread out.
9. Put lid on slow cooker and leave to cook on high or low.
10. When you're happy lasagna is cooked, sprinkle the last cup of pizza cheese on top, put the lid back on, turn sc off and leave lasagna to sit for about 20 minutes to give it time to firm up.
Options, look at vegetarian and south western chicken style recipes.
add more vegetables.
Add meat to sauce. Add artichokes, roasted red pepper, sun dried tomatoes to increase flavor.
NOTE for 8x8 pan, I put tomato sauce, 2 noodles, 1/2 ricotta, 2 noodles, more sauce, sausage and veg, 2 noodles, second half of ricotta, 2 noodles, top with remaining tomato sauce, cover and refrigerate overnight. cook covered with foil in 350 oven for 1-1+1/2 hours or until pasta tests cooked with knife, top with pizza cheese, let melt, remove from oven, let stand 10-15 minutes then serve.