The first time I had taco lasagna was when my uncle made it when my dad and I were visiting for a Buffalo Bills game years ago, so all credit for the inspiration for this dish goes to him. Since that taco lasagna was so long ago, I really don’t recall any of the specifics of how he made it…just the general concept. Therefore, I decided to just play around with the idea and see what would happen!
The part of this recipe that I was most excited about came from a learning we had when we made our Harvest Lasagna when we mixed pumpkin and ricotta with great success. For this lasagna, we infused the ricotta with avocados and lime juice!
Anyway, if you’ve got some lasagna noodle in your pantry, and you want to make a lasagna that’s very different from the classic Italian dish, give this one a try!
Time: 75 Minutes
Ingredients:
- 9 Sheets of Lasagna Noodles
- 1 pound of Ground Meat. We are using venison, but beef, pork, and chicken would work well too. You can also use black beans, red beans, or pinto beans for a vegetarian version.
- 1 Onion
- Hot Peppers. We used one habanero and one jalapeno
- Salsa
- Corn
- Ground Cumin
- Ground Paprika
- 15 ounces of Park Skim Ricotta
- 2 Avocados
- A little Lime Juice
- Shredded Cheese (We are using Colby Jack)
Method:
- Boil a big pot of water to be used for pasta later, and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Dice your onions and hot peppers (use a food grade vinyl glove while cutting to avoid “capsaicin fingers” and a miserable night if you accidentally rub your eyes).
- Heat some oil in a pan, and sautee your peppers and onions to caramelize.
- Add in your ground meat, cumin, and paprika, and sautee everything together until the meat has browned.
- Carefully, place your lasagna pasta into your boiling water, and cook until they are soft.
- Stir in your corn and about 80% of your salsa, and let everything simmer together until most of the liquid has evaporated.
- While your meat and veggies cook, scoop your ricotta cheese into the bowl of your stand mixer. Then, peel your avocados, and cut them into quarters, and add them to the bowl. Use the whisk attachment to blend your cheese and avocados, adding in lime juice as you go until everything is smooth and incorporated.
- When your pasta is ready, spray the bottom of your lasagna pan, and carefully place three sheets along the bottom of the pan.
- Scoop and spread half of your ricotta along the bottom layer of pasta, and then spread half of your meat/veggies atop the ricotta.
- Follow that up with another layer of pasta, ricotta, and meat/veggies.
- Finish with a top layer of lasagna noodles, and then spread the remainder of your salsa atop that last layer.
- Sprinkle some cheese on top of your lasagna, and bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until everything is hot, and your cheese has melted.
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
