Lasagna
This lasagna is a three layered mixture of fresh pasta, tomato, meat sauce and Ricotta and Parmesan cheeses.
Ingredients
- Handful fresh basil leaves - each leaf cut or torn into 5 or 6 pieces, depending on the size of the leaf. No fresh, use 2 tsp dried basil
- 2 cups Ricotta cheese - about what you would find in a normal size container at the store
- 1 pkg fresh lasagna sheets, usually 6 large sheets, no precooking required - If you cannot get the fresh pasta, then substitute with dried lasagna noodles that have been prepared according to the package
- 1 ½ cups shredded Italian cheese mixture - Mozzarella, Provolone, Asiago
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Sauce
- 500 gm lean ground beef - about 1 lb
- 1 medium onion - medium chop
- 1 to 2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
- 2 14 oz tins of unsalted diced tomatoes - when tomatoes are plentiful in the summer, always use fresh!
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 dash cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Creating the Sauce
- In a medium sized frying pan, fry the onions and garlic in a little bit of olive oil until the onions are translucent, about 3 - 5 minutes. Then add the lean ground beef. Break up the beef into pieces with a spatula while it is frying. Continue to cook the mixture until it is nicely browned. If you are using lean ground beef, then there will be very little fat left in the pan. If there is some extra fat in the pan, pour it off and dispose of it.
- Put the meat mixture into a sauce pan and add the tomatoes, salt, oregano and freshly ground pepper. Stir this mixture together and cook it until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn the burner off.
Building the Lasagna
- I like to use a 13" x 9" x 2" (3qt or 2.83 L) Pyrex dish (substitute with any suitable dish that can be used in an oven).
- Now start to build the lasagna. Start with a layer of the beef mixture, followed by a layer of the pasta (you may have to cut the fresh pasta to make it fit), followed by about a third of the Ricotta, a nice sprinkling of Parmesan and just enough freshly chopped basil. Repeat this two more times (beef mixture, noodles, cheese), ending with a top layer of the beef mixture.
- Sprinkle the grated Italian cheese mixture (or just Mozzarella) evenly over the lasagna. Cover the top with aluminum foil. It is now ready to be baked.
- You can now put the prepared lasagna in the fridge until you are ready to bake it or put it in a 350 ℉ oven. It should be nice and bubbly in about 45 minutes (remove the tin foil for the last 10 minutes of baking). If it has been refrigerated, please allow an extra 15 minutes of baking).
Notes
Leftovers (if there are any!) may be refrigerated or frozen. Defrost if frozen, and then reheat either in the oven or microwave.