Lasagna

My mother makes about the best lasagna I've ever tasted, but I can never seem to make it quite as delicious as hers.  I'm beginning to think she leaves out ingredients when she gives me her recipes, just to ensure that her dishes remain better tasting than mine.


That having been said, I have been working on her lasagna recipe for quite some time, and what follows is what I think is about the best lasagna I've ever made.  Any comments on ways to make it better are certainly appreciated, but if you like lasagna, I think you'll be impressed.


To start with, the recipe is easily broken down into three steps; 1) the meat mixture, 2) the cheese mixture and 3) the noodles.  We'll start with the meat, then the cheese and finally the noodles.


Take one cup of chopped onions and add it to one pound of hamburger and one pound of ground sausage.  Cook until all the meat is browned, then drain the fat.


To the drained, cooked meat add one 28 ounce can of Italian-style peeled tomatoes, one six ounce can of tomato paste, 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, one teaspoon basil, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and two cloves finely chopped garlic.  Mix it up and cook it at a simmer (very low heat) covered for two hours.


While the meat is cooking mix one 15 ounce container of ricotta cheese with 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.  Do not use the Parmesan cheese that comes in the green plastic container. Use shredded Parmesan or shred your own.  Mix these well with one cup of shredded mozzarella cheese.  Add three Tablespoons of parsley to the cheese mixture.  It will look like this:

Put a large pan of water on the stove and bring it to a boil, with about two Tablespoons of oil in it (olive oil works well for this).  When the water boils, add six lasagna noodles and cook for nine minutes.  As soon as the nine minutes are up, pour the noodles into a colander and immediately fill the pan up with cold water.  Dump the noodles into the cold water and set aside.  If you keep the noodles soaking in cold water they won't stick together.


When the meat is finished cooking, spray the bottom of a 13" x 9" baking pan with cooking spray and assemble your meat mixture (still in the pan), cheese mixture and noodles within reach like this:

Ladle one or two spoonfuls of the meat mixture into the bottom of the pan, then lay three of the noodles over this like so:

Spread half of the cheese mixture over the noodles.  It won't spread smoothly, but will look something like this:

Don't worry about spreading it smoothly, since it will melt in the oven.  Spoon half of the meat mixture on top of the cheese mixture like so:

On top of the meat, place the last three noodles, then the remainder of the cheese mixture and top with the remaining meat mixture.  The finished lasagna will look like this:

Sprinkle one cup of mozzarella cheese on top so it looks like this:

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Then remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.  The lasagna should be hot and bubbly when you remove it from the oven, and the finished product will look like this:

If you like your cheese browned, place it under the broiler for two or three minutes.  Regardless, let it cool for about 10 or 15 minutes before cutting into it, as it will be very hot.


Bon appetit!