Margarita's International Recipes

Italian-American
Lasagna
Lasagna


This is a time consumingrecipe.

Lasagna is a quintisential Italian-American recipe, and one that has been happily adopted by Americans of all origins. Personally, I'm found of the party size (e.g. lasagna pan size) frozen Stouffers lasagnas, but once in a blue moon I'd like to make my own. When I discovered that I had a box of lasagna noodles in the cupboard, I decided I should make it for this project.

I was fairly happy with the results, though I feel the Italian sausage overwhelmed the other flavors. If you make it, you might want to use only half a pound of Italian sausage, and an extra half a pound of ground beef to make up for it.

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Lasagna

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 4-6 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 lb mild Italian sausage
  • 1.25 lb ground beef
  • 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 14.5 oz can tomato sauce
  • 1 6-oz can tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 1 Tbsp brown or white sugar
  • 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
  • ground pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley, divided
  • 10 lasagna noodles
  • 1 lb ricotta cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup + 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese, divided
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 16 oz mozarella or other cheeses, shredded

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan or cooking pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, sausage and ground beef and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and the meats are browned. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce and red wine. Season with the sugar, Italian seasoning, basil, fennel seeds, 1 tsp salt and pepper. Stir in 2 Tbsp parsley. Bring to a boil, cover, turn heat down to low and simmer for at least 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Cook the lasagna noodles according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, egg, 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, 2 Tbsp parsley, nutmeg and 1/2 tsp salt. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Spread one third of the meat sauce in the bottom of a lasagna pan. Arrange 5 noodles over the meat sauce. Spread half the ricotta cheese mixture on the noodles. Top with half the mozzarella cheese. Spread half of the remaining meat sauce over the mozzarella. Sprinkle 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese on the sauce. Repeat with the rest of the noodles, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, meat sauce and Parmesan cheese. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, making sure it does not touch the cheese underneath.

Put in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.


Adapted from John Chandler's recipe at All Recipes.

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