Here was my second Dutch Oven recipe and a stab at filling my desire to make something filling. My family wound up eating it for dinner right before my little brother Pico left for college so it was not a failure, however the success I had was brought on by the quality of the recipe. This could be easily reproduced in a camp setting with a few hours of work. I certainly would lobby for it at a future campout. It produced 9 servings and with it not being unreasonable for a hungry camper to eat two servings (we certainly did) these proportions would be better matched for a small patrol. I have not conducted any tests on scaling up proportions vs scaling out (more dutch ovens).
The recipe is a family recipe from my great-aunt Lorraine dug out of a compilation of family recipes. I may wind up plundering the book later for other sides.
2 1/2 cup tomatoes
1 6oz can tomato paste
2 8oz cans tomato sauce
2 cloves minced garlic (I passed)
3 Tbsp parsley (I forgot to pick it up)
1 Tbsp basil
1 Tbsp oregano
2 tsp salt
ground pepper
1 onion diced finely (I passed)
2 lb ground beef
1 lb ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 lb lasagna noodles (wound up with half a box left over)
1 lb mozzarella cheese, sliced (I shredded. Probably would have been less work to slice.)
Combine tomatoes (chopped up!), tomato paste, sauce, garlic, 1 1/2 tsp salt, pepper, spices, and onion. Simmer this for 2 hours.
45 minutes before mixing: brown hamburger, add to sauce. After hamburger is done combine salt, parsley, ricotta cheese, eggs, pepper and parmesan cheese.
When done simmering: Put noodles in bottom of dutch oven, breaking up noodles in order to get a good coverage. Put a layer of sauce, a layer of the ricotta cheese mixture and a layer of mozzarella cheese. Keep on layering until out of materials. Pour in a cup of water around the edges. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes. I put in new coals at the 30 minute mark. My coal count was something like 6 bottom/9 top in a 12 incher, this was unsatisfactory. I would recommend 17 top/8 bottom as given in charts.
Conclusion:
Delicious. It came out hot, done but still very liquid: I prefer steaming hot, denser lasagna and a later attempt will have to include more coals. Cold leftovers were good. I shall definitely reattempt this