Crowd Sourced Meat Lasagna Food

CROWD-SOURCED SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Make the meatballs: Combine the beef, breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, parsley, basil and 3/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk together the milk, egg and Worcestershire sauce in a small bowl. Pour over the meat and gently mix with your hands until well blended. Roll into 12 golf ball-size meatballs. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 20 minutes.
• Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or other pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs in a single layer and cook, turning, until well browned all over, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the meatballs to a plate and set aside. Discard the oil and gently wipe out the pot with a paper towel.
• Make the sauce: Heat the olive oil in the same pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, parsley, basil and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper; cook 1 minute. Add the wine and cook, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot, until the wine is nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, chicken broth, sugar and 1/2 cup water.
• Add the meatballs to the sauce. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook until the meatballs are cooked through and the sauce thickens slightly, 18 to 20 minutes; season with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook as the label directs for al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water, then drain. Return the spaghetti to the pasta pot, ladle in about half of the sauce and toss well to coat, adding more sauce if necessary. Divide the spaghetti and meatballs among bowls. Top with Parmesan and serve with the remaining sauce.

EGG SAMMIES FOR A CROWD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Weave the bacon into an approximately 10-inch square on a cooling rack. Put the cooling rack with the bacon on a baking sheet. Bake until partially cooked, 15 to 20 minutes
• Meanwhile, whisk together the milk, eggs, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and several grinds of pepper in a large bowl.
• Remove the cooling rack with the bacon and set aside. Spread the rendered fat on the baking sheet with a pastry brush. Pour the whisked eggs onto the baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir until fluffy. Bake until set but not dry, another 5 minutes.
• Using a serrated knife, slice the entire package of sweet rolls in half, keeping them attached to each other. Top the bottom halves with the cheese. Spoon the scrambled eggs onto the cheese. Transfer the bacon lattice on top of the eggs and top with the other half of the rolls. Cut into individual servings and serve with ketchup.

LASAGNA FOR A CROWD

Steps:

• Brown meat, onion, and green pepper (and mushrooms if desired), adding garlic salt. Drain fat.
• Add tomato sauce and bring to a simmer, cover and cook for at least 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, cook the lasagna noodles in salted water (reserve the cooking liquid) until barely al dente (about 7 minutes) and combine the cottage cheese and mayonnaise in a bowl.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Grease a 13X9 pan with butter. Evaluate the sauce, if it has cooked for a long time and lost a lot of liquid, thin it by adding 1/4 cup at a time of cooking liquid from the noodles. Add as much as desired to get the right consistency: thick but spreadable. This will also make your sauce "sticky" so it will coat the noodles.
• Spoon a thin layer of sauce into the bottom of the dish. Layer noodles (overlapping if necessary), 1/2 meat mixture and 1/2 the cheese mixture.
• Cover with the rest of noodles, meat and cheese mixture. Top with shredded mozzarella.
• You can store this in the refrigerator or freezer at this point until ready to heat. Allow extra time for reheating from cold or frozen state. Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray and cover the lasagna with it. Bake for 1 hour.
• Uncover and continue baking until the cheese is bubbly and browning.

MEAT-ZA

Steps:

• Pour olive oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. Dice the onion and saute until softened. Add the garlic and saute about 2 minutes. Add both cans of tomatoes and simmer for about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in oregano, thyme, red pepper, salt and pepper to taste. After heated through, reduce heat, and stir in fresh basil. Reserve sauce.
• In a large skillet brown Italian sausage. Drain and set aside. Cut the andouille sausage into bite size pieces and heat through and brown in the same skillet. Remove from the pan and mix with the Italian sausage.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Take about 1 cup of the marinara sauce and cover the bottom of a 9- by 13-inch lasagna pan.
• Arrange uncooked lasagna noodles to cover the bottom of the pan. On top of the noodles place about 8 slices of the provolone cheese in 1 layer. Spread 1/2 of the ricotta cheese on top of the provolone. Spread 1/2 of the sausage mixture on top of the cheese. Spread out 1/2 of the slices of pepperoni on top of the sausage. Then spread 1/2 of the sauce on top. Repeat layers: noodles, provolone, ricotta, sausage, pepperoni, sauce.
• Then finish off the top with the shredded mozzarella cheese. Cover pan with foil and bake about 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes until golden brown and bubbly. Let stand for 15 minutes then serve.