Embarrassing Fact

Last week I made a dinner that was based on a (gasp) Rachael Ray recipe I saw on the food network website. I don't like Rachael Ray very much, and I think a lot of her recipes are weird or stupid or both, but this interpretation of lasagne was pretty good. I didn't do it exactly like she does, but it turned out easy and delish.

Deconstructed Lasagne

1 lb. ground beef

onion and garlic

1 jar spaghetti sauce

1 lb. short pasta (corkscrew, ziti, etc)

1 c. skim ricotta

1/2 c. grated parmesean or reggiano

salt and pepper

Brown the meat with the onion and garlic, drain off fat. Add the pasta sauce to the meat/onions and simmer. Cook the pasta according to package, but reserve about a cup of the pasta water before draining. Combine the cheeses and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Add about half a cup of the pasta water to the cheese mixture. Toss the pasta with the cheese mixture. Add more pasta water if necessary to get a creamy consistency on the cheesy sauce. Add the meat sauce and mix it all up. Easy and delicious.

I served it with basil garlic bread. I used that tube of basil that you find in the produce section at the grocery, added diced garlic and butter, mixed it all up, smeared it on the bread and baked it like 8-10 minutes. YUM!