Matt’s Lasagna

January 11, 2005

Our friend Matt gave us this excellent recipe. The meat sauce is great on pasta as well.

• 8 oz lasagna noodles
• 1 lb sliced cheese (mozzerella/provolone)
• Parmesan for the top (fresh grated is extra nice)
• Some olive oil (vegetable oil is okay too)
• Meat sauce:
  • 1 lb ground beef (80% to 85% lean)
  • 1 lb hot Italian sausage
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • Sliced mushrooms to taste
  • 52 oz of Italian baking sauce (also called marinana)
  • 4 cloves garlic, pressed
  • ½ cup red wine
  • Dash crushed red pepper
  • Salt
  • Lots of black pepper
• Ricotta mix:
  • 15 oz large curd cottage cheese
  • 15 oz ricotta
  • ½ a box of frozen cooked spinach (drained)
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese (cheap powdery kind okay)

If you can’t find the baking sauce, just use spaghetti sauce. Matt uses sliced cheese because it’s easier to deal with than shredded cheese. We used to go for the super lean beef (like 92% lean) but found a lot of hard pieces in it, so we’ve backed off a bit and drain off the fat.

1. Boil the noodles in oiled salted water until they are al dente.
2. Fry the meat and sausage (until dark), onion, garlic, and mushrooms in large, deep frying pan.
3. Add other meat sauce ingredients and let simmer.
4. Mix the ricotta ingredients in a large bowl.
5. Apply the following layers in a 9×13 glass baking dish:
   1. Olive oil
   2. Tiny bit of meat sauce
   3. ½ of noodles
   4. ½ of ricotta mix
   5. ½ of cheese
   6. ½ of meat sauce
   7. ½ of noodles
   8. ½ of ricotta mix
   9. ½ of cheese
   10. ½ of meat sauce
   11. Fresh-grated parmesan all over the top
6. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes covered, 20 uncovered.
7. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Putting oil in the water prevents the noodles from sticking together. Serves 6 to 8 people.

Saute the meat, sausage, onion, garlic, and mushrooms

Ricotta mix

Olive oil and a bit of the meat sauce

After a layer of noodles and ricotta mix

After the second cheese layer

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