Lasagna Bites

If you have ever been to the St. Louis area, then you have probably been introduced to toasted ravioli – those yummy deep fried breaded pillows of meat or cheese. The Midwest is typically the only place that you can find these delightful little treats whether it is in a restaurant or in the frozen section of your local grocer.

So why ravioli when I have title the recipe lasagna bites? When I saw Aaron McCargo Jr. on Big Daddy’s House make his lasagna bites, I had to try it out for myself. The ending product that we had for dinner tonight reminded me more of a really good ravioli then lasagna – maybe that’s because I have never had deep fried lasagna before.

This time I decided to create my own stuffing as opposed to following another’s. Taking the tips that I saw on the show – use manicotti noodles stuffed and cut in to thirds and the most important step – breading the stuffed lasagna. Mr. McCargo had a terrific way of remembering the order of the steps in which to bread a particular item – February - more specifically “FEB.” – flour, egg, bread crumbs. Considering that I normally suck at breading, with the majority of it remaining in the deep fryer, I was excited to learn to see if this new trick would work for me. I was met with great success.

Serve these deep fried goodies, normally served as an appetizer, with your favorite spaghetti sauce mixed with parmesan cheese. Of course, a nice alfredo sauce would work as well. As Mr. McCargo pointed out, if you do not want to fry your lasagna bites, you can just as easily bake them in a 375 degree oven, just be sure to cover them with sauce.

Lasagna Bites
Prep and frying about 45 minutes
24 pieces
8 manicotti noodles, boiled to al dente, drained and placed in cool water for easier handling
Spaghetti sauce
Parmesan cheese

Stuffing – combine the following
15oz ricotta cheese – lite
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup of shredded parmesan cheese
1 egg
8 oz of sausage (mild or hot, your choice), browned in a skillet and drained – I made sure mine was in small pieces
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
2 tsp. Garlic powder
2 tsp. Onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Half a bag of spinach, cooked, drained and chopped

Breading
Flour
3 eggs, beaten
Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Putting it all together: Hold the noodle in your hand on top of a paper towel so that it will not slip out of your hand. Spoon the stuffing mixture in to the noodle – try not to tear the noodle but don’t worry if you do, the breading will keep it together in the fryer. After you have stuffed all of the noodles, place them in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes. This will help firm the stuffed noodles so that you can cut them in to thirds.

While you are waiting, plug in your fry daddy and prepare your breading materials. In separate containers (pie plates work well), place your flour, eggs and bread crumbs (FEB) and create your assembly line in that order. After you remove the noodles from the fridge and cut them in to thirds, start breading them – having someone else helping you at this time will make it go quicker. I personally breaded all of my pieces first before placing them in the fry daddy.

Frying (it only takes about a minute and 10 seconds): Be sure to have a pan or plate lined with paper towels ready so that you have something to drain the fried lasagna bites on. Start frying; I did three pieces at a time. After draining the bites, place them on a serving plate and sprinkle with parmesan cheese – do this as you go.

Hints for breading:
Make sure that the entire bite including the ends is covered in flour before rolling it in the beaten egg.
You will want to knock of any extra flour before placing them in the egg.
Roll the floured bites in the egg, again making sure that the egg covers the entire bite.
Same goes for the bread crumbs.

More hints:
After you cut your noodles in to thirds, you may have to push some of the stuffing back in to the noodle.
Again, don’t worry if the noodle ripped. Simply push the noodle back together. The stuffing and the breading will keep it in place.
I cooked my spinach in the same pan that I had cooked my sausage in. I also seasoned the spinach with salt, pepper, a little garlic powder and Italian seasoning
Be sure to drain the spinach after it cooks down. Do this by placing it in the middle of a clean dish cloth (one that you no longer like), twist the cloth making a ball with the spinach and squeeze or continue to twist the water out. After it is drained, cut it in to small pieces.
Flavor is important with the stuffing so don’t be afraid to taste the meaty cheese concoction before placing it in the noodles. Nothing is worse then having flavorless lasagna.

Serve immediately and above all, Enjoy!