"Pancake" Lasagna for One - Food Wishes

[Music] hello this is chef john from food wishes.com with pancake lasagna for one that's right until now if you wanted lasagna your choices were to make a lot or to make none but thanks to this easy technique that's all changed and by the way if you turned off the video because you didn't think pancakes sound good in lasagna well you should turn it back on because what we're actually using is kind of thickish crepes that come out virtually identical to an egg noodle and i could argue might even work better and to get started we'll go ahead and mix up the batter for those which will include two large eggs a nice pinch of salt a little bit of olive oil some cold fresh water and then last but not least some all-purpose flour and then we'll take a whisk and give this a thorough mixing until very very smooth so yes the same ingredients that would go into a lasagna noodle just in some slightly different proportions and then what we'll do once this is mixed is let it sit out at room temp for about 15 minutes before we use it and that's it once we're ready to cook our pancakes up we'll go ahead and brush a non-stick skillet with a little bit of olive oil and we'll set our heat to medium and then once that's hot we'll go ahead and transfer in about a quarter cup of our batter and we'll tilt the pan so it evenly coats the bottom and then what we'll do is cook this first side for about a minute to two minutes or until our batter set and that top surface goes from looking kind of wet to sort of dry and yes this really is closer to a crepe than a pancake i just thought pancake lasagna was a little more provocative sounding and trust me if you made this in front of a french chef and called it a crepe they would shake their head and tell you it's a pancake because it's too thick but anyway the point is once we cut and stack this up it is going to feel and taste exactly like an egg noodle but anyway like i said we'll give that first side about a minute or two and we'll go ahead and flip it over and we'll give the other side about a minute and once you flip this over don't be surprised if you get some bubbles forming all right not only are those not a problem they're actually considered good luck by me and that's it once that second side's cooked for about a minute we'll flip that back over for no apparent reason and we'll go ahead and remove that from the heat and transfer it onto a plate at which point we'll let it cool before we cut it into thirds to make three triangles and yes if you are just going to make one you should go ahead and cook the other three since they do freeze very well and that way you'll be all set for the next time you're craving lasagna and then once that's set we can move on to mixing up our cheese filling but before we do please note that cheesecloth texture on the surface which is due to the fact that i'm using homemade ricotta or homemade ricotta if you prefer which i am in fact going to show you how to make in an upcoming video but homemade or not we'll go ahead and season this with some kosher salt some freshly ground black pepper plus a few shakes of cayenne to stain shape i also tossed in some finely sliced fresh basil and then finished up with some freshly and finely grated parmesan cheese and not just any parmesan parmigiano-reggiano also known as the real stuff oh and please be sure to use a really small bowl if you want this easy step to be a little bit harder but anyway eventually i got that mixed and with a fork for some reason and that's it once that's set we can move on to assembling our lasagna for one and first up we'll spread a couple tablespoons of our favorite marinara or pasta sauce into the bottom of a small shallow heatproof ramekin or baking dish which ideally is just slightly larger than one of your egg noodle pancake triangles speaking of which let's go ahead and lay one down on the sauce and then once that's set we'll go ahead and take two nice heaping tablespoons of our cheese filling and place that on top and then we will go ahead and spread it out a little bit but we don't need to go all the way to the edges and probably shouldn't and then besides that we'll also want to add some grated cheese which could be mozzarella if you want but personally i like to go with monterey jack okay it's still very mild and milky but there's just a little more going on and that's it we'll finish our first cheese layer with a couple teaspoons of our sauce followed by egg noodle pancake number two which i decide to position with the point going the opposite way just to i guess make it seem a little more random and we'll give that a very light pressing but not too much and that's it the second verse is just like the first we will repeat the exact same process and again i totally get using mozzarella here but seriously for a nice change of pace give monterey jack a try all right mozzarella doesn't mind mozzarella would love a break mozzarella is kind of tired and then once our second cheese layer is done i think we all know what happens next we will top that with our third egg noodle pancake triangle and we'll give that a little bit of a press but not too much as our cheese melts in the oven this is going to flatten out so don't be squashing it down too much at this point we'll finish up by lightly saucing the top as well as monterey jacking the top and then for a little extra flavor and color i'm gonna do a light but important dusting of parmesan followed by drizzling about a teaspoon olive oil over the top and that's it our lasagna for one is now ready to bake but before we do the plate safe i do like to place our baking dish on a sheet pan in case anything bubbles over and that's it once pan that is now ready to transfer into the center of a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes or so or until lightly browned and beautifully bubbling and hopefully looking like this and besides looking absolutely gorgeous what that also looks like is something that's too hot to eat so we should probably let this cool for about five minutes before possibly garnishing the top with some more sliced basil or maybe italian parsley because it's parsley and italian and we'll go ahead and serve that up with a plate underneath which will reduce our chances of getting burned and now that we've taken care of those safety protocols i'm going to grab a spoon and dig in and that my friends i think is the easiest most delicious way to make lasagna for one or two oh and i almost forgot we didn't use pasta which is because as you're eating this it tastes exactly like you did right those crepes or pancakes or whatever you want to call them that we made feature the exact same ingredients that go into pasta dough and presented in this format it is almost impossible to tell you did not use lasagna noodles in fact what it tastes like is it used really nice homemade lasagna egg noodles and even though i only did two layers of cheese and didn't really build this up very high i still think it's a perfect portion for one person but having said that if you want to build this up two three four more layers go ahead i mean you are after all the frank sinatra of your pancake lasagna and you really should do it your way don't worry i'm not quitting my day job i've already done that and speaking of your way of course you can go ahead and add whatever you want to these layers all right i kind of want classic cheese lasagna here but obviously a nice meaty sauce like a bolognese would work great as with things like spinach and mushrooms and all the other good stuff you could put in a lasagna but whether you make this as is or go old blue eyes on it and adapt it to your personal tastes either way i really do hope you give this a try soon so please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts a printable written recipe and much more info as usual and as always enjoy [Music] you

Channel: Food Wishes

Views: 267,013

Keywords: Lasagna, for, one, crepe, pancake, Italian, fast, easy, simple, chef, john, food, wishes, cooking

Id: VeMaLeaRpR4

Length: 7min 49sec (469 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 16 2021