Today I made a lasagna. I pulled out some tomato sauce from my freezer. The sauce was made from fresh tomatoes that I peeled and slow cooked for about a day. I have a similar recipe for tomato sauce called winter tomato sauce made from canned tomatoes of you want to try that or just use whatever you normally use. The recipe for sauce is not here. I made the ricotta cheese fresh because they don’t sell good tasting ricotta cheese in my part of Arizona. Then I made the pasta and hand rolled it. I topped the pasta sheet with my lasagna fillings and rolled it up almost like a jelly roll. The hardest part was placing the rolled dough in the bundt pan but it wasn’t impossible either. If you make this the way I did then it will take you 2-3 days to make the lasagna. The sauce I made takes all day. The cheese takes a little over an hour but needs a day to drain. You have to get the cheese very dry and crumbly. I also chilled my dough over night because I had the time. Serving size will indeed differ…same as bundt cake. Little slices are about 16 servings and big gut busting servings are around 8 servings. I got 14 servings for my taste so I will calculate this to be 14 servings. You can freeze leftovers well.

Ingredients for 14 servings

1 gallon whole milk

1 pint heavy cream

2 lemons – just the fresh squeezed juice – (if your lemons are tiny or dry you might need a third lemon

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

2 eggs

3 yolks

1 1/3 cup ap flour plus more for dusting (you might need less or more flour depending on brand…start with one cup and see if you need more

2 pinch sea salt

1 egg

1 Tablespoon fresh parsley – fine chopped

1 lb mozzarella – shredded (**I actually used 9.5 ounces between the layers and put the rest on the top)

1 cup parmesan cheese – grated (plus more for serving)

1/2 cup sharp provolone – grated

scant 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

few grates nutmeg

few grates black pepper

non stick spray

Make the cheese.

Put a gallon of whole milk with a pint of cream and maybe two teaspoons of sea salt in a BIG pot on medium heat and bring to a rolling boil. (this might take about an hour) You want to SLOW BOIL this mixture. When the milk is SLOW BOILING for a few minutes SLOWLY add the lemon juice a little at a time and let it keep boiling to make curds. Scoop out the curds with a strainer and shake out the whey.

Keep going till you get out all the curd. You will have to drain the cheese several times. Best to chill overnight so you can get the cheese nice and extra thick so it comes out right. When the cheese is all completed drained. Mix together all the ricotta (it should be slightly over a pound), 1 egg, 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, 1 cup grated parmesan, ground white pepper and a few grates of nutmeg. Refrigerate till ready to use.

In another bowl combine around 9 1/2 oz of shredded mozzarella with 1/2 cup shredded provolone and refrigerate till you are ready to roll (the lasagna up).

Next make the dough.

Mix together 2 whole eggs, 3 yolks, 1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, 2 pinches of sea salt and between 1 and 1 1/3 cup of flour. (the amount of flour will differ depending on the brand you are using and the humidity. (this dough recipe was based on a Cook’s Country Recipe but the one cup flour never worked out right for me on the 4 times I did this pasta dough and I find that I always need around a third a cup more. I also added the salt because I thought pasta dough needs a little bit of salt. Kneed dough a bit and make it into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill at least 20 minutes or overnight.

Put it all together.

Spray bundt pan with non stick spray. Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Put around a cup of tomato sauce in non stick sprayed bundt pan and set to the side.

Roll out pasta dough about 22 inches by 16 inches on a very floured surface.

Spread around a thin coating of tomato sauce.

Fill a sandwich bag with the ricotta mixture. Cut tip of bag and make rows of cheese. (I didn’t spread the cheese because I thought I’d rip the thin delicate pasta.)

Use plastic wrap and cover cheese so you can press with your hands and make a smooth cheese layer.

Add grated cheese mixture.

Add more sauce.

Roll up like a jelly roll. (from long side)

(next time I might add a sheet of plastic wrap for parchment paper under the pasta dough so it will be easier to roll?….If I remember………)

Here’s the hardest part. Get your biggest spatula and lift it up the best you can with your hand too and place in bundt pan and pat it down.

Add a small amount of sauce and some cheese if you care to…(you can save remaining cheese for reheating……but you need to add the sauce)

Add more sauce.

Spray aluminum foil with non stick spray. Cover pan tightly with non stick spray side down on the top of saucy top.

Use a pan under the bundt pan because it is likely that you will have some spill over and place on the middle rack of the oven and leave in for 75 minutes.

After 75 minutes in the oven leave out on counter till cool and then refrigerate to set the lasagna up.

After chilled slice up and heat. Serve with more sauce and grated cheese.

Someone won’t leave my feet.

Everyone will LOVE this.

My husband wanted to eat this four days in a row!

ENJOY!