The Best Lasagna Recipe Ever
This easy and customizable lasagna recipe is a real crowd pleaser.
Equipment
- 1 saucepan
- 1 large pot
- 1 casserole dish
Ingredients
- 12 lasagna noodles about 10 ounces or 1 package
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 750 grams ground beef
- 350 grams ground italian sausage (optional)
- ½ small onion finely diced
- 3 cloves fresh garlic minced
- salt and pepper
- 2 cans whole tomatoes (15 oz/443 ml)
- 1 tbsp dried basil (or 6 leaves fresh, chopped fine)
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp sugar (optional) or honey
- 500 grams ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, divided finely grated (fresh if you have it)
- 3 cups mozzarella cheese grated
- 2 cups fresh spinach chopped
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Once boiling, salt it NOT BEFORE
- when the water is boiling, salt it then add your lasagna noodles and cook according to directions or until él danté. (8-10) minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water, pat dry.
- While your water is coming to the boil, begin the sauce
- In a large skillet, add 1 Tbsp olive oil, diced onion, ground beef, Italian sausage. Season with salt and pepper and fry until no longer pink. Drain off excess oil when cooked.
- Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and cook until fragrant and the onion is translucent.
- to this add the tomatoes, breaking up the whole tomatoes, with your hand or a masher.
- Add the basil, oregano and sugar and let simmer to reduce and combine flavours, about 30 minutes. If you prefer to use a pre made pasta sauce then by all means do, but choose a good one. Then just omit the tomatoes. Taste for seasoning and adjust the basil and oregano as needed.
Ricotta filling
- in a small bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, egg and ½ cup grated parmesan cheese.
- meanwhile, chop the spinach add it to a saucepan with 1 T olive oil and 1 clove of minced garlic and sauté until soft (1-2 minutes).
- once cooled a bit, add the chopped spinach to the ricotta mixture and stir. Season with salt and pepper.
Assembly instructions
- In a large casserole dish, cover the bottom of the dish with a thin layer of your sauce. Then a layer of noodles, overlapping if necessary to cover the bottom.
- spoon half of the ricotta mixture over top of the noodles spreading evenly, then some of the shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup) followed by a generous amount of sauce, then another layer of noodles and repeat ending with the meatsauce.
- sprinkle the top layer of meat sauce with the final cup of grated mozzarella and the remaining ½ cup of parmesan cheese.
- At this point you can either refrigerate the lasagna (covered) for up to 2 days, or freeze it (up to a month) or cook and enjoy right away!
- Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
- Let it cool for 10 minutes to "set" before slicing to prevent it from running.