Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Mamma's Lasagna


INGREDIENTS

1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 lb. hot sausage
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
4 cups prepared meat sauce (I use 32 oz. Prego and add one small jar)
1 package of Italian cheese
1 lb. (or 16 oz.) mozzarella cheese, freshly grated
1/2- 1 cup cup Parmesan cheese, freshly shredded or grated
1 lb. whole-milk ricotta cheese


METHOD

1. Brown sausage and ground beef adding minced garlic (3-5 cloves chopped fine). Add one large jar (32. oz)of prego and one small one. Salt & pepper to taste....

2. Blanch the noodles. (Blanching means that you make the noodle water boil and then put each strip of lasagna in it for about a minute. The noodles will become a little bit tender on each side, but won't even come close to cooking through.) Take them out of the water with tongs so that you don't burn yourself, then lay the noodles out on a paper towel to absorb the extra water. While baking, the noodles will also absorb water from the other ingredients and become the perfect, not-at-all-mushy, no-way-gushy, noodles.

3. And don't eat the raw-ricotta mix out of the bowl. (That would be gross, although it smells so great.) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rub a 13" x 9" baking pan with the remaining olive oil. Spoon a little meat sauce on the bottom of pan. Place a layer of cooked lasagna noodles over this, overlapping slightly to cover the bottom of the pan. Drop the ricotta filling by the spoonful on top of the noodles; smooth with the back of the spoon or spread it out with your freshly washed fingers. Scatter a layer of meat sauce over the ricotta. Top with half of the mozzarella, Italian cheese and Parmesan. Repeat layers, ending with a layer of noodles, top with the remaining sauce, and finish with the remaining cheese.

5. Bake covered for 45 minutes until golden brown; uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes. (Tip: Try to clean up the kitchen now -- believe me, you'll hug yourself later.) Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.


Serves 10


Recipe from Audrey Schepler

1 comment:

Jones Family Recipes said...

My mom made this for a dinner party at my sister's and it was terrific!