Our Lasagna

Mark H.'s Note:

My wife and I came up with this recipe together on my most recent birthday. I came up with the recipe foundation, but the adjustments she made as she cooked are definitely the key to making this the best I've ever had. It makes me look forward to birthdays again.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 35 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 lasagna

• 1 lb ground pork or 1 lb ground sausage
• 1 lb ground beef
• 12 ounces canned tomato sauce
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley or 2 tablespoons dried parsley , chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ cup minced onion
• 1 pinch sugar
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ lb small curd cottage cheese
• ½ lb ricotta cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (16 ounce) package dry lasagna noodles
• 1 lb mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Brown pork OR sausage and beef in a dutch oven or similar large, deep skillet.
3. Once meat is browned, add tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, and 1 tablespoon parsley.
4. Add garlic, oregano, onion, sugar, basil and salt.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low and let sauce simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Give it a good stir every 5 minutes or so.
7. In a large bowl, combine cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp parsley, salt and pepper.
8. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish with a thin layer of sauce followed by 1 or 2 layers of uncooked lasagna noodles; Assemble the remainder in the following sequence: cheese-egg mixture, sauce, mozzarella cheese (sliced or shredded), noodles; repeat layers ending with a layer of noodles covered with a thin layer of sauce and some shredded mozzarella.
9. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes .
10. Remove foil, cover top with more mozzarella and grated parmesan.
11. Bake for another 5-10 minutes .
12. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.
13. NOTE: When assembling the lasagna, we use medium- thick slices of mozzarella rather than shredded.
14. Either works great, the sliced cheese just seems to add a little extra cheesiness.
15. We use shredded for the mozzarella topping that is applied at the end.

Reviews

[Danielle in New Hampshire]

I recently made this recipe for a family get together and it was the most delicious lasgna I have ever made. My whole family was raving about how delicious it was. My hardest critic-(my husband) told me that it was the best lasgna I had ever made! I was so happy to hear that! It was very easy to make, the recipe was easy to follow. Although I did make one adaptation, in the cottage cheese and riccota mixture I bought a package of frozen spinach,thawed and drained off the excess liquid and added that to the cheese mixture. The author of the recipe suggests using sliced mozzarella instead of shredded mozzarella, I did use shredded mozzarella, but next time will use sliced mozzarella, the shredded mozzarella wasn't cheesy enough for my tastes. But the recipe was great overall and would recommend it to others!!!!!!

[toofatcats]

Great recipe! My husband wanted me to buy, not make lasagna, because I'd never found a recipe he liked...until now. The top noodles were a bit crunchy for my taste but it still tasted good. Used italian sausage & hamburger and used italian seasoning for the basil. Wonderful!

[Cindy Lynn]

This was really good, but like someone else said, I will cook the noodles first when I make this again. This really filled my 9 X 13 pan and although it ended up running over, it took much longer to bake (for the noodles to be done) than the directions stated. Had the noodles been pre-cooked, I'm sure it would have been finished in the allocated time and possibly wouldn't have boiled over either (I think from the noodles swelling). Thanks for sharing this recipe Mark!