Classic Lasagna

Another perfect rainy day meal to prepare!  Even better is that this lasagna really did not take all day to prepare and was actually quite easy.  Even best is how good it was, I mean really good!  There are plenty of times when I fix something for dinner and I think, eh, not great but it's food.  There are other times when I actually feel that I'm not half bad at this cooking thing.  But then, every once in a blue moon, I hit the mother load and, I'm not embarrassed to say, I impress myself.  This was the ultimate lasagna!  I beg you to make it.  Better yet, (here's a shameless self promoting plug) contact me and I'll come over and make it for you or teach you to make it.

The first place to start it with the sauce.  I sauted 1 small chopped onion in olive oil in a large sauce pan until soft.  Then, I added 1/2 pound ground round beef and 1/2 pound Italian sausage and sauteed the meat with the onions until cooked through.  To the cooked meat and onions, I added 2 chopped cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoons dried oregano (I think if it's possible to have a dried oregano addiction, I have one!), 1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and 1 tablespoon of sugar.  After cooking for a few minutes I added 1 large can of crushed tomatoes and 1/2 can water and reseasoned with a little salt and pepper.  I brought the sauce up to a big bubble and then turned it down to simmer for about 45 minutes. Then I removed it from the heat and let it sit until I was ready to assemble the lasagna. 

That's really the hardest part of this meal.  While the sauce was "resting", I combined 1 container of ricotta cheese with 1 egg and wisked it together until well combined.  I shredded 2 cups of mozzerella cheese and 1/2 cup parmesan and set them aside too. 

Now it's time to assemble.  I tried really hard to find fresh lasagna noodles, but, no surprise that none were located.  Because I strongly dislike the lasagna noodles with ruffled edges and refuse to use them, I opted for the Barilla no boil noodles.  For this lasagna, I used an 8x8 square pan.  I started by coating the bottom of the pan with a few good spoonfuls of the sauce and placed two noodles on top.  Then, I layered on about 1/2 of the ricotta mixture, 1 cup of mozzerella, and enough sauce to generously cover the top.  Next, I placed two lasagna noodles on top, covered them with the remaining ricotta cheese and a few more spoonfulls of sauce to cover well.  Final layer was two more noodles, the rest of the sauce, the remaining mozzerella and the parmesan cheese. After photographing it because it was too beautiful to resist, I covered it with foil and baked it for 50-60 min. at 375 degrees.  Then, I removed the foil and baked it for another 5-10 minutes until the cheese browned and let it rest for 15 minutes (at least) before cutting and serving.  Here is it fresh from the oven. 

I served it with just a simple side of salad greens dressed with a bit of red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper.