Today i8: Lazy Lasagne in a Pan

It is 2:10am and hunger strikes, not a simple 'Mi-Goreng-or-toast-easily-satisfied-hunger', rather it was a 'rich-Italian-tomato-sauce-and-cheese-hunger' coupled with midnight meal laziness. Lasagne ticked all the boxes for my craving, but who wants a twice-cooked two hour monstrosity?!

Before we begin I want to talk about my abhorrent lack of useful/specific 'values' for ingredients (e.g 1cup, 2Tbs), there are a number of reasons why it is difficult. Firstly I cook for two-three people, if only it was that simple - one person (myself) has gastric sleeving and can't eat much; another (Oarin) would eat a small LARGE horse for every meal if he wasn't a vegetarian; and the third is a fussy autistic four year old who only hankers for pasta and cheese. However the beauty of (most of) these meals is they are often just a throw together of ingredients which you can customise to taste - they are very forgiving.

So if you can forgive my terrible recipe directions, I present:

Lazy Lasagne in a Pan

Didn't even wipe the plate!

Ingredients:

• 2tbs Olive Oil 
• Garlic, I used the pre-chopped stuff 
• 1/2 packet vegetarian mince (equiv. to 250g meat mince - or just use that if you are not a vege.) 
• 1/2 packet Pasta - whatever you have on hand, however much you want. 
• Red wine (optional), but I keep a cask just for this! 
• Parsley, freshly chopped is best, but other types will do 
• Tomato sauce 
• 1 can of diced tomato 
• Handful of grated Parmesan (to taste) - micro-zest it, even better. 
• Handful of grated tasty cheese (to taste) - optional! (for extra cheese) 
• Handful of grated Mozzarella (to taste) 
• 1 cup Ricotta or cottage cheese, either works - Ricotta might work better, but I only had cottage cheese>.< 
• Salt and Pepper 
• Mixed herbs 

Procedure: 

1. Cook you pasta - I like to cook it in the microwave, just cover with water and microwave for 10 minutes ( if you cook to much it is no biggy, pasta makes a quick meal) 
2. While your pasta cooks add the olive oil to a large fry pan (or suitably sized pot depending on the intended meal size) heat and fry up the garlic, followed by the vegetarian mince and enough tomato sauce to lightly coat the mince. 
3. Add wine (to taste, just a splash or two), the can of diced tomato and mixed herbs (to taste), allow to simmer. 
4. While the red sauce simmers, mix the ricotta (or cottage cheese) with grated parmesan and salt+pepper in a cup. 
5. Strain and add the pasta, the chopped parsley and the tasty cheese (if desired) to the pan with the red sauce and mix. 
6. Take a teaspoon of the white cheese at a time and add it to the red sauce - don't overmix, these are the equiv. of the 'white sauce' in the lasagne! 
7. Sprinkle the grated mozzarella over the top and cover with a lid (or foil) to help it melt. 
8. Serve - see it tastes like lasagne....kind of.