Some darn good Lasagna

[JEM]

From http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Worlds-Bes ... etail.aspx

World's Best Lasagna

PREP TIME 30 Min
COOK TIME 2 Hrs 30 Min
READY IN 3 Hrs 15 Min
SERVINGS & SCALING
Original recipe yield: 12 servings

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.

I made this last night. A few notes:

- I spent WAY more than 30 minutes prep time. But then again, my kitchen was dirty so I had to clean it up before I could really get going. :roll:

-Don't try this recipe if you're looking for a quick dinner.

-Use fresh parsley. It makes a big difference. I tripled what it called for.

-I don't care for salty food. I rub the salt off of pretzels when I eat them. So I didn't add any salt and I thought it still was just a bit salty from the tomato sauce, paste, etc. My wife, who is a saltoholic, thought it was just right.

-I couldn't find sweet Italian sausage so I just used mild and added extra sweet basil.

-It says to let it stand 15 minutes before serving. 30 minutes would be better. For the BEST taste, let it sit in the fridge over night. We heated it up for dinner tonight and it is FANTASTIC!!!!

 

[Kayak Jack]

HINT: click on the link that Matt provided, and you can change the serving amount to any number you want. It will recalculate the recipe for you.

WARNING: I think that Ole Yaker may have something to do with this recipe. At the very end, they talk about Italian red wine. Dead give away.

 

[JEM]

Yep. You can resize and even change it to metric.

The default of 12 servings maxes out a 9x12 pan nicely.