Since going gluten-free January 1st, I have struggled with my craving for pasta. I usually do pretty well during the week but on the weekends when I have time to properly cook I find myself wishing for a big plate of spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread that is the perfect union of crusty french bread and buttery garlic flavoring. I would even be willing to cook up some green beans to make myself feel better about inhaling a disproportionate amount of carbohydrates in one sitting. Or pizza, or eggplant parma, or chicken parma...or well, you get the idea. I found a recipe recently that was about making mini lasagnas in a muffin pan. I thought that sounded promising since making a whole pan of lasagna for one person is silly, and stupid when considering the consequences of eating even one piece of lasagna and my delicate digestive system. The recipe initially called for wonton wrappers (which are not GF) so I substituted with Vietnamese rice papers. I should preface this recipe by saying that I did not have ricotta cheese to properly cheesify this recipe into lasagna (can't find it in South Korea) and neither did I properly measure anything. So on those counts I failed, but the end result was yummy, so take what you will!
Mini Lasagnas (GF)
Meaty bolognese sauce (use your favorite home recipe or buy a jar of it)
Mozzerella cheese
Vietnamese rice paper
Eggplant (if you want)
Ricotta cheese (mix it with a bunch of parmesan cheese and frozen spinach to make it like my mom does)
Oregano
Basil *
Garlic salt *
*these are if you make your own sauce like I did.
1. grease your muffin tins really well before you start anything. Including the flat part of the pan since the rice paper goes over the top of the muffin tin.
2. Brown your ground beef with onion and garlic (I used leftovers from a recipe earlier this week). Add sauce and season to taste with garlic salt and basil. Make sure it's decently thick. Runny sauce won't really be helpful here.
3. Time to turn your rice paper into something usable. Boil water and fill a shallow dish with it. One paper at a time is the best way to go. Put it in the hot water until it's turned soft and pliable. Not very long if your water is boiling. Just don't burn yourself like I did!
3.2 Line your muffin tins with the rice paper. It turns out that I needed 2 to fill each since I couldn't get them to be flat...which turns out to be better for my lasagna after all.
4. Put one tablespoon of sauce in the bottom of your lasagna.
5. Now you can work on your layer. This is only a one layer lasagna after all. I put slices of eggplant on the sauce and the sprinkled some cheese on top of it. But feel free to miniaturize your own recipe. Mmmmm, ricotta cheese with spinach. I wish I had that here...ok, back to the recipe.
6. Top each mini with one more rice paper (yes, go back to the hot water). Push the rice paper down so that it fills in the gaps and give you a bit of a well to work with one last time. Then do a bit more sauce and cheese before bringing the rice papers together to sort of seal it all together. Sprinkle some oregano on the top.
7. Bake in your oven for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Or until the cheese on top is golden.
8. When I pulled them out of the pan they sort of fell apart a bit. I'm guessing that rice paper isn't the most sturdy thing to use here. I might cook it longer next time to see if that improves it (I pulled my out at 15 minutes) or line the muffin pan with tin foil to help them hold shape after I get them out. In any case...they were yummmy.
9. Having a cute puppy watching you work in the kitchen is completely optional, but absolutely adorable.
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