• 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 (optional). see notes

• 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.

For the Bechamel Sauce (optional)

• In a small saucepan, add the butter and melt over med heat.
• Once melted add the flour and stir to combine. Cook the butter and flour for 2 minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste.
• While stirring, slowly add the milk and whisk over med high heat until the mixture thickens. Add salt and a pinch of nutmeg for flavor and shredded parmesan if using. Stir until the sauce thickens and the parmesan is melted, then layer in the middle of the lasagna and end (top the lasagna) with the Bechamel. Bake as directed until the lasagna is brown and bubbly.

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. If using bechamel, cover the meat layer with half of the bechamel.
• sprinkle the top layer of meat sauce with the final cup of grated mozzarella and the remaining ½ cup of parmesan cheese and top with the remaining bechamel.
• 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.