What's Cooking - Lasagna

This weekend I had the pleasure of receiving a personal cooking lesson from a good friend of mine who can throw down in the kitchen...and shall I say..it was a very interesting evening to say the least:) A couple of weeks ago I was discussing my BLOG with him and expressed how I would like to step out of my box when it comes to cooking and try some new receipes. So I attempted making Lasagna. This recipe was extremely easy and with a couple of glasses of wine in my system plus great conversation, it seemed as though we were done in no time. Italian food is one of my favorite cuisines and I have to say that this lasagna is definately one for the books. It turned out absolutely delicious. Check it out for yourself!

Ingredients

1 pound of sweet Italian sausage
1 pound of ground beef
1/2 cup of chopped onions
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 (28 ounce) can of crushed tomatoes
2 (8 ounce) cans of tomato sauce
2 (6 ounce) cans of tomato paste
1/2 Cup of Water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon fennel seed
2 teaspoons fresh Basil leaves chopped
4 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
23 ounces of ricotta cheese.
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1 egg
1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
12 lasagna noodles

Start with the following in a pot:

1 pound of sweet Italian sausage
1 pound of ground beef
1/2 cup of chopped onions
2 cloves of garlic chopped

*The flavor of the Italian sausage varies from brand to brand. You may need to try a different brand the first couple of times. Find the flavor/brand you like the best.

Brown the ground beef, Italian sausage, onions and garlic in a pot until they start to cook. It takes about 6 to 9 minutes to brown the meat.  I used a medium low temperature to brown the meat. It is optional to remove the grease from the meat once it is finished browning.  (I removed the grease)

Add the following:

1 (28 ounce) can of crushed tomatoes
2 (8 ounce) cans of tomato sauce
2 (6 ounce) cans of tomato paste
1/2 cup of water
Gently stir this into the cooking meat.

Add the following:

2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon  fennel seed
2 teaspoons fresh Basil leaves chopped
2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
Gently stir these seasoning into the sauce

Cover the pot and let the meat sauce simmer. Simmer on low heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes This is the ideal simmer time but not mandatory. If you don’t have time simmer for atleast 1 hour.

Soak lasagna noodles. The lasagna noodles need to be soaked in hot tap water for 15 minutes. While the noodles are soaking you can make the cheese filling.

Put the following in a mixing bowl:

23 ounces of ricotta cheese.
1/2 teaspoon  fresh grated nutmeg 
(Grate fresh nutmeg over the Ricotta cheese)

Now start building the lasagna layers.
Use a 9×13 inch baking pan.
Spread 2 Cups of meat sauce on the bottom of the pan.
Remove your lasagna noodles out of the water bath. Shake water off wet noodles.
Lay noodles across the layer of sauce.

Spread half of the ricotta cheese mixture over the layer of noodles.
Spread 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese over the ricotta layer.
Sprinkle half of the Parmesan cheese over the mozzarella layer
Spread 2 cups of meat sauce over the cheese layer

Lay down the next layer of noodles

Spread the remaining ricotta mixture over noodles

Spread the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses saving some cheese for the top of the lasagna

Put the last layer of meat sauce on the cheeses

Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Cover with foil

Bake in preheated oven at 350 F  for 25 minutes
Remove foil and bake uncovered for another 25 minutes

Enjoy!