World's Best Lasagna

I've been cooking since I was little and I can't believe I've never made a lasagna before. It's funny ... I was thinking through all our family recipes and there really aren't any with cheese in it, isn't that weird? and I don't remember having cheeses around. It wasn't until I was in high school I found out about Borsin and then in college found out about cream cheese and brie but anytway, I was jonesing for months and couldn't find a diner anywhere that had a slab so I decided to make it. My cousin Kelly swears by this recipe (very pretty original of the recipe following that jump and I've also included it in its entirity at the bottom for your convenience) and has used it for 10 years. I didn't get to watch her make it and I don't know what went wrong, but I'm gonna tell you what I learned along the way:

Ingredients

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Now, that whole bit up there is to make the "gravy", as well call it, the marinara sauce. This is certainly not MY recipe for a good sauce and I guess, if you didn't know how to make one (or if you were in a hurry) you could doctor up some spaghetti sauce in a jar by sauteeing some onion and garlic, pouring in the sauce and adding some oregano and rosemary and thyme. What's above is certainly nowhere near my sauce, there's no reason to add fennel seeds if you have the proper sausage and I don't even want to KNOW what "Italian seasoning" is lol ... p.s.: I used about 2 pounds of meat, 1 pound chopped meat (hamburger) and 1 pound sweet italian sausage.

• 12 lasagna noodles

I have a problem with excess...I don't really know how to cook for just a couple of people, I usually end up with enough for a couple of meals ... okay, a couple of meals for four or five people. However, you LITERALLY only need 12 lasagna noodles. Since I don't shop for them, I had never seen a very creepy thing, "no boil lasagna noodles" ... I don't wanna think about that either, but you may wanna give them a try.

• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

This is the ricotta cheese layer. I doubled this and I could have used another half of this. I also was very happy about mixing a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg in this. My godmother is Sicilian and it was a trick

• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced

I used about 2 pounds of shreaded mozz and it was good and fine

• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

I was an idiot and used Parmigiano-Reggiano and it was like a salt lick ;-)

I also decided it would be a good idea to top the whole thing off with slices of provalone cheese and it was one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever had.

You want to salt the water when boiling the pasta. You want to add them a couple at a time and you want to stir them while they're boiling. After you drain them, my friend Ruth said to toss them with olive oil to keep them from sticking. My cousin Kelly actually RUBS them with olive oil. I'm southern, so I tossed in a half a stick of butter.  Butter ... mmmm...

The rest of the recipe is fairly straight-foward ... although ... it says to use a 9x13 inch pan.  What it DOESN'T say is, I think it should be 4 or 5 inches tall.  I used an "ordinary" 3 incher and I was petrified the whole thing was going to end up on the bottom of the oven.  It didn't and I credit that to my scathingly brilliant idea of topping it with the Provalone ;-)

The recipe says to layer "6 noodles lengthwise" ... that doesn't really fly. What I did was sorta tjuzs three of them and cut one for a length-wise topper and made double the layers, which is why I'm sure I needed double the ricotta layer.

I put the pan on a cookie sheet.  I couldn't believe the cooking times were right (Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving) but they were absolutely perfect.

HINT: My girlfriend Ruth also told me that the lasagna was even better the second day and she was so right, it was even better later that week.

GOOD LUCK !

World's Best Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.