Ricotta Lasagne
Lasagne is a baked pasta dish.
- Time
- 2–3 hours
- Servings
- 12
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450 g) sweet Italian sausage
- ½ lb (230 g) minced (ground) beef
- ½ onion, chopped fine
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3½ tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1½ tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp fennel seed
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup chopped parsley, divided
- 4 cups (1 kg / 2.2 lb) canned whole tomatoes, undrained, halved, seeds removed
- 12 oz (340 g) tomato paste
- ½ cup (125 ml / 4.2 oz) water
- ½ tbsp salt
- 2 cups (600 g / 1.3 lb) ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 16 oz (450 g) lasagna pasta
- 16 oz (450 g) mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced (a wire cutter is nice for semi-soft cheeses like this)
- about 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Method
- Remove sausage casings, and break sausage into small bits.
- Sauté sausage and ground beef in 5-quart (4.7 L) saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat with onion and garlic until the meat is browned.
- Add sugar, 1 tablespoon salt, basil, fennel, pepper, and half the parsley; mix well.
- Add tomatoes, tomato paste and water, mashing the tomatoes a bit. Bring the sauce to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered and stirring occasionally for 1½ hours.
- Preheat oven to 275 F.
- Cook and drain pasta.
- In a medium bowl mix ricotta, egg, ½ teaspoon salt and remaining parsley.
- Assemble your lasagna in a inch roasting pan (listed bottom to top):
- *Bottom layer of sauce (approx. 1½ cups / 375 g / 13.2 oz)
- *Layer of pasta (overlapping slightly)
- *Layer of ½ the ricotta mixture
- *Layer of ⅓ of the mozzarella
- *Sauce layer (again, about 1½ cups / 375 g / 13.2 oz)
- *Layer of grated Parmesan sprinkled over sauce (not so much that the sauce layer is covered entirely)
- *Layer of pasta
- *Layer of remaining ricotta
- *Layer of ⅓ of the mozzarella
- *Layer of remaining sauce
- *Layer of sprinkled Parmesan
- *Layer of remaining mozzarella
- Cover the lasagna with foil and bake 30 minutes covered, then 25 minutes uncovered (or until bubbly and lightly browned). Cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Uncooked lasagnas freeze very well so the extra work can be done well in advance. You can make several batches at a time and freeze the extras to thaw out and cook later.