Julia Turshen S A Nice Lasagna

This light and elegant lasagna comes from Julia Turshen’s lovely cookbook, Small Victories (Chronicle Books, 2016).

This lasagna comes from Julia Turshen’s lovely cookbook, Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumphs (Chronicle Books, 2016). Not only is it the simplest lasagna I’ve ever made, it’s also the lightest and most elegant. Julia writes that there are three “small victories” with the recipe. The first is using a food processor to make an easy homemade pasta dough (although I would argue that an even bigger victory is that you can replace the homemade pasta with store-bought no-boil lasagna noodles, which I did). The second small victory is skipping both the American tradition of using ricotta and the Italian tradition of adding béchamel. Instead, Julia adds crème fraîche directly to the tomato sauce, which lends the requisite creaminess that all great lasagnas have, but with zero effort. (I LOVED this cheat. The sauce was so delicious, I had to stop myself from sneaking spoonfuls while assembling the lasagna, lest I run short.) Finally, the third small victory is a high sauce-to-pasta ratio, which eliminates the step of having to cook the noodles before assembling the lasagna — and also allows the noodles to absorb the flavor of the sauce as they cook in the pan.

What you’ll need To Make Julia’s “Nice Lasagna”

Step-by-Step Instructions

Begin with the sauce. In a large bowl, crush the tomatoes with your hands.

Julia suggests this as a good job for kids — I agree, although it’s messy so you might want to put the bowl in the sink.

In a large saucepan, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until it begins to sizzle, about 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes and salt and bring to a boil.

Lower the heat and let the sauce simmer, stirring every so often, until it’s slightly reduced, about 30 minutes.

Mix in the crème fraîche.

Season to taste with salt and set aside.

Next, assemble the lasagna. Ladle a thin layer of sauce onto the bottom of a baking dish. Spread the sauce to cover the surface of the dish, then add a layer of pasta over top.

Spoon over just enough tomato sauce to cover the pasta and then scatter over some of the Parmesan, mozzarella, and basil.

Repeat the layering process until you’ve used up all of your components, ending with sauce and cheese (not naked pasta or basil, both of which would burn if exposed).

Bake the lasagna, uncovered, until it’s nicely browned and the edges are bubbling, 35 to 40 minutes.

Let it rest at room temperature for 15 minutes to allow the pasta fully absorb all of the bubbling sauce, so you don’t end up with soupy slices.