Chorizo Lasagna
If you love chorizo and creating different spins on classics, you will love this lasagna because it's packed with flavor, freshness, heat and creaminess.
Ingredients
Lasagna
- EVOO
- 1 lb fresh ground chorizo sausage
- ½ red onion, chopped
- ¼ cup tomato sauce
- 1 cup beef stock
- 1 cup ricotta
- ½ cup cotija cheese, crumbled
- ½ cup parmesan, grated
- 1 egg
- 1 handful cilantro, stems and leaves chopped
- Salt & Ground Pepper
- 8 oven ready lasagna noodles
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
- 1½ vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced thinly
Herbed Salsa
- 1 handful cilantro, stems and leaves chopped
- 1 handful pasley, stems and leaves chopped
- ½ vine-ripened tomato, deseeded, diced finely
- 1 jalapeno, seeds and veins removed (unless you want more heat) and diced finely
- ¼ red pepper, diced finely
- 1 clove garlic, smashed, chopped and turned into a paste
- 1 lime, zest and juice
- Salt & Ground Pepper
Instructions
Chorizo Meat Sauce
- Begin by warming a small amount of EVOO in a frying pan large enough to create a meat sauce. Add the ground sausage and the red onion and cook on medium until fragrant, ~10 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce and beef stock and simmer the meat sauce and allow the sauce to thicken, ~30 minutes.Once the sauce is thick, turn off the heat and set aside until you're ready to build the lasagna.
Ricotta Cheese Layer
- Meanwhile (i.e. while the sauce is simmering), in a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta, cotija cheese, parmesan cheese, cilantro, egg and fresh ground pepper. Mix together completely and set aside until you're ready to build the lasagna.
Herbed Salsa
- In a small mixing bowl combine all of the ingredients and stir until well combined. Set aside for the final plating of your lasagna.
Build the Lasagna
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and get ready to build!
- Spread a then layer of the meat sauce in the bottom of small casserole dish.
- Add a layer of oven lasagna noodles.
- Now the cheese layer, including a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.
- Add another layer of lasagna noodles and then meat sauce, cheese mixture, sliced tomatoes and mozzarella and repeat until you've used your ingredients.
- Bake at 350 degrees until the edges are browned and the top layer is bubbling, ~45 minutes.
- Let the lasagna rest for ~15 minutes to firm up before serving.
- Serve with the salsa verde, enjoy and cheers 🥂.
Notes
- Since it's only David and I tonight (and we have too many leftovers already), this recipe is based on smaller lasagna, baked in a 1.5 quart dish. This recipe would feed between 4-6 people. But never fear, you could double the ingredients for a standard casserole lasagna.
- I'm doing a bright herbed salsa to serve with the lasagna, but you could easily add the salsa as a layer to create added pizzazz versus serving fresh.
- My chorizo has heat and the creaminess of the cheese layer helps the heat 👍.
- I'm using oven ready noodles, which was new for me. I think they worked well, but if prefer the bite to your lasagna noodles, I would use the boil noodles.
- You need to let your lasagna rest for at least 15-20 minutes to firm up. I know you will be tempted to serve from the oven, but leaving it to rest for some time is best.