Mexican Lasagna with Green Chile Sauce

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Place noodles in a 9×11 baking dish and cover them with boiling water. Set aside. Soak the noodles for the length of time it takes to prepare the other ingredients, approximately 15 minutes or so. No need to use oven ready noodles. I use just the standard lasagna noodle. You can cook them following package directions if you want, but personally, I like the thought of less dishes and think the noodles end up with a better texture to them, especially when reheating the leftovers.

Over medium heat, brown ground beef in a large skillet with salt and pepper. When beef is browned, drain off the grease if desired. Add onion and cook until softened. Then add garlic and continue to cook 2-3 minutes more. Stir in Rotel, beans, cumin, adobo, coriander and chili powder. Taste for seasoning. Turn off heat.

Make the green chile sauce: Puree green chiles, 1 cup buttermilk and flour in a blender until smooth. Pour into a saucepan over low heat, stir in remaining cup of buttermilk and cook until hot, not boiling, stirring occasionally. Whisk in cream cheese 1 ounce at a time, whisking until melted and smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

In a medium sized bowl combine ricotta, pepper jack cheese and egg with a couple pinches of salt and pepper.

Remove noodles from dish and drain them. Dry the baking dish and spray with oil.

Spoon a thin layer of green chile sauce on the bottom of the dish. Top with 3 noodles, 1/3 of the hamburger mixture and 1/2 of the cheese mixture. Then spoon on another thin layer of sauce. Repeat these layers 2 more times ending with burger mixture and the remaining green chile sauce over the top. Make sure your noodles are completely covered. I use the 10th noodle to fill any gaps, usually length of noodles.

Bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the dish from the oven, sprinkle the Monterey jack cheese over the top and continue baking another 10-15 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly.