Sunday, December 28, 2008

CHILI LASAGNA

After cooking no less than 4 turkeys over the holiday season I just couldn't face another fowl day; so I decided to create my own variation on this classic holiday dish to serve at the Official Sober Family Xmas gathering.
OK, so maybe lasagna isn't really a traditional holiday dish but since when was The Hop Hunter ever accused of being very traditional. An American Barbarian perhaps...but rarely traditional in any sense of the word.
I'm going to list the ingredients here in the opposite order that I layered them into my official sized non-stick 11"x14" lasagna pan.
The Chili I used was my own recipe but you could use whatever chili you happen to like. The fact that I had a large bowl of chili left over in my freezer from last month weighed heavy on my decision to create this new dish. New to me anyway. That and my continuing love of green Chile's, cilantro and all things cheesy.

TOP
Parmesan Cheese - covering the entire top, essentially sealing in all the other ingredients.
Chili and Mozzarella cheese
Lasagna noodles - solid across the entire pan, tight together
Chili and Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Lasagna noodles
The white layer - A mixture of ricotta/cream cheese/sour cream seasoned with Chipotle
Lasagna noodles
Chili, Mozzarella Cheese and Cilantro
Lasagna noodles
Green Chile's and Pepper jack Cheese
Lasagna noodles
Chili and Mozzarella Cheese
BOTTOM

That's it, five layers of noodles, or go six if they'll fit. Six types of cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or so...until you can see sauce bubbling up
or the top Parmesan cheese is starting to brown.
Let it rest a minimum of 40 minutes. Do NOT cheat on the resting time....have another beer or three and wait........it'll be worth it. You won't burn off the roof of your mouth and the layers will form back together and present properly on the plate. Serve it too soon and you'll have lasagna sliding soup.

As Alton Brown would say "It's just good Eats"

1 comment:

Baublehead said...

Most delicious lasagna ever! I was really wishing I had thought of it for leftovers for lunch the next day. I'm really wishing I had some with me today.