Stuff:
sauce:
1 cans tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 can diced tomato
1/2 lb ground beef
2 dried bay leaves
handfull of fresh oregano, parsley, whatever herbs you thing would rock your tongue
1 lb spicy italian sausage (not in casing)
Some garlic, preferably fresh
1/2 white onion
some olive oil
bunch of mushrooms. I recommend portabello. I also recommend sauteeing 'shrooms in red wine. Not a must, but its nice.
sugar
pasta:
1 thingie of lasagna noodles.
Cheese:
1 lb shredded mozzerella
large container of ricotta cheese, I don't remember the size. I always think I buy the wrong one, but it always ends up working out
1 egg
more fresh parsley, if you've got it
What to do with the stuff:
sauce: finely chop the herbs. chop the onion relatively fine. chop the shrooms. chop the garlic. Unload the contents of all the cans into a large pot and mix that shit up nice and good. Turn the burner on low, just because. If you're going to sautee the shrooms in the wine, do that now. Put all the chopped shrooms into a pan with a wee bit of olive oil. Then pour in enough red wine to cover the bottom of the pan. Then pour in a little more. Then pour yourself a glass, cooking should be fun! Cook the shroom until about 2/3 of the wine is gone. From the pan, not your glass. If you finish your glass, just refill. Once the wine is mostly cooked off from the shrooms, they should be done. Throw that whole mess into the pot with the tomato stuff and stir. Now throw a little more olive oil into the pan and chuck in the garlic. Let that do its thing for about 5 minutes, then throw in the onions. Now let that do its thing for another 5 minutes or so. We're looking to carmelize those onions, so, yeah. When they look good, throw 'em in the pot! Now brown the beef and the sausage and throw those into the pot. Next add whatever herbs you want as well as the bay leaves. Stir. Let that amazingness simmer for, like, 4 hours.
That's right. 4 hours. You can let it simmer for less time, but the longer you let it go, the better it will be. Trust me.
After about an hour or so, you'll want to taste the sauce. Soemtimes it can be very acidic. If so, add some sugar to taste.
Cheese: Mix the ricotta, egg and parsley together. That's it.
Pasta: Sometime while the sauce is cooking, I pre-cook the lasagna noodles a little bit. Not a lot, just enough to make 'em flexible. they'll cook all the way while its in the oven.
Construction:
Cover the bottom of a glass pyrex dish with a little bit of sauce, then layer noodles, meatsauce, ricotta, mozzerella. Then do it again. Noodles, sauce, ricotta, mozzerella. That should finish off the ricotta. If not, you didn't do it right. Throw on your last layer of noodles. If you have any ricotta left, use it now. Then the rest of your sauce, then a thin layer of mozerella. I usually have sauce left over. It's delicious. Make sloppy joes or something. Oh, btw, you should have preheated your oven to, like, 350 or so. Now that your oven is preheated, cook the lasagna for about 20-30 minutes or so. Remember how I told you to put a thin layer of mozerella on the top? The reason you did a thin layer before is because now you're going to load it on. That's right. Load that thing up with cheese! Now throw it back in the oven for another 10 minutes! I usually crank the oven up to 500 for those last few minutes so that top layer of cheese gets nice and crisp.
Now, here's the part I never think to do because, at this point, you're starving, tipsy and it just smells sooooo good. Let the thing sit for about 5-10 minutes. If you don't, it'll serve a sloppy mess. If you let it sit, though, it'll hold much better when you serve it and actually look like a lasagna.
Enjoy!
sauce:
1 cans tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 can diced tomato
1/2 lb ground beef
2 dried bay leaves
handfull of fresh oregano, parsley, whatever herbs you thing would rock your tongue
1 lb spicy italian sausage (not in casing)
Some garlic, preferably fresh
1/2 white onion
some olive oil
bunch of mushrooms. I recommend portabello. I also recommend sauteeing 'shrooms in red wine. Not a must, but its nice.
sugar
pasta:
1 thingie of lasagna noodles.
Cheese:
1 lb shredded mozzerella
large container of ricotta cheese, I don't remember the size. I always think I buy the wrong one, but it always ends up working out
1 egg
more fresh parsley, if you've got it
What to do with the stuff:
sauce: finely chop the herbs. chop the onion relatively fine. chop the shrooms. chop the garlic. Unload the contents of all the cans into a large pot and mix that shit up nice and good. Turn the burner on low, just because. If you're going to sautee the shrooms in the wine, do that now. Put all the chopped shrooms into a pan with a wee bit of olive oil. Then pour in enough red wine to cover the bottom of the pan. Then pour in a little more. Then pour yourself a glass, cooking should be fun! Cook the shroom until about 2/3 of the wine is gone. From the pan, not your glass. If you finish your glass, just refill. Once the wine is mostly cooked off from the shrooms, they should be done. Throw that whole mess into the pot with the tomato stuff and stir. Now throw a little more olive oil into the pan and chuck in the garlic. Let that do its thing for about 5 minutes, then throw in the onions. Now let that do its thing for another 5 minutes or so. We're looking to carmelize those onions, so, yeah. When they look good, throw 'em in the pot! Now brown the beef and the sausage and throw those into the pot. Next add whatever herbs you want as well as the bay leaves. Stir. Let that amazingness simmer for, like, 4 hours.
That's right. 4 hours. You can let it simmer for less time, but the longer you let it go, the better it will be. Trust me.
After about an hour or so, you'll want to taste the sauce. Soemtimes it can be very acidic. If so, add some sugar to taste.
Cheese: Mix the ricotta, egg and parsley together. That's it.
Pasta: Sometime while the sauce is cooking, I pre-cook the lasagna noodles a little bit. Not a lot, just enough to make 'em flexible. they'll cook all the way while its in the oven.
Construction:
Cover the bottom of a glass pyrex dish with a little bit of sauce, then layer noodles, meatsauce, ricotta, mozzerella. Then do it again. Noodles, sauce, ricotta, mozzerella. That should finish off the ricotta. If not, you didn't do it right. Throw on your last layer of noodles. If you have any ricotta left, use it now. Then the rest of your sauce, then a thin layer of mozerella. I usually have sauce left over. It's delicious. Make sloppy joes or something. Oh, btw, you should have preheated your oven to, like, 350 or so. Now that your oven is preheated, cook the lasagna for about 20-30 minutes or so. Remember how I told you to put a thin layer of mozerella on the top? The reason you did a thin layer before is because now you're going to load it on. That's right. Load that thing up with cheese! Now throw it back in the oven for another 10 minutes! I usually crank the oven up to 500 for those last few minutes so that top layer of cheese gets nice and crisp.
Now, here's the part I never think to do because, at this point, you're starving, tipsy and it just smells sooooo good. Let the thing sit for about 5-10 minutes. If you don't, it'll serve a sloppy mess. If you let it sit, though, it'll hold much better when you serve it and actually look like a lasagna.
Enjoy!
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