Lasagna And The Secret Recipes

WORLD'S BEST LASAGNA

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

LASAGNA (AND THE SECRET!)

Steps:

• ** Ground beef & sausage can be cooked ahead of time and refrigerated.
• You should already have a batch of "Conforti Family Red Gravy" (see recipe) ready to go.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Mix the ground beef with the seasonings in a large bowl. Mix well and form into 5-6 large meatballs.
• Place meatballs on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake about 30-40 minutes, or until browned and well done. Set aside to cool.
• In a fry pan, brown the crumbled sausage. Drain well. Set aside.
• Turn oven temperature up to 400.
• Cook the box of Lasagna noodles according to package directions. Drain & rinse well with cool water. (If using no-boil noodles, you can omit this step.)
• In a large bowl, crumble the meatballs and mix with the crumbled sausage.
• In your Lasagna pan, spoon some sauce to just cover the bottom of the pan. Add a layer of noodles.
• Then, add 1/3 of the ground beef/sausage mixture
• Spoon some Ricotta cheese over the meat and, using the spoon spread it around.
• Add a layer of Mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle some Parmesan.
• Repeat the layers two more times (sauce, noodles, meat, cheeses) to total 3 layers.
• ** Be sure to cover the noodles with the sauce so that the edges are not showing, to keep them from drying out)
• Top with a final layer of noodles, the last of the sauce, some Mozzarella & the cheddar.
• Cover with some aluminum foil (sprayed with non-stick spray) or "tent" the foil with toothpicks to keep it from sticking to the cheeses. Bake for 45 minutes.
• Remove the foil & bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is golden browned.

THE BEST LASAGNA

Steps:

• Put pasta water on to boil Put a large pot of salted water (1 Tbsp salt for every 2 quarts of water) on the stovetop on high heat. It can take a while for a large pot of water to come to a boil (this will be your pasta water), so prepare the sauce in the next steps while the water is heating.
• Heat the oven to 375°F
• Bake Cover the lasagna pan with aluminum foil, tented slightly so it doesn't touch the noodles or sauce). Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes. Uncover in the last 10 minutes if you'd like more of a crusty top or edges.

SECRET INGREDIENT LASAGNA

Steps:

• Brown ground chuck with onion. Drain off grease and add allspice and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes. Add salt, pepper, fennel, cinnamon, oregano, and basil. Stir until meat is well coated. Stir in tomato paste until meat is well coated. Stir in tomato sauce and water. Simmer covered for 2 hours.
• Boil 18 of the noodles for 5 minutes just to soften. Drain and rinse with cold water. Lay flat on layered paper towels so the noodles do not stick together.
• Mix together ricotta cheese, egg, and ½ cup parmesan cheese.
• Spray a 15 x 11 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread a small amount of sauce on bottom just to keep the noodles from sticking. Then layer in this order: 6 noodles, 1/3 of meat sauce, ½ of ricotta cheese mix, 1/3 cup of parmesan (sprinkle to cover), 1/3 of shredded cheese mix, 6 noodles, 1/3 of meat sauce, ½ of ricotta mixture, 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese(sprinkle to cover), 1/3 of shredded cheese, 6 noodles, 1/3 of meat sauce, 1/3 shredded cheese mix, and 1/3 cup parmesan cheese (sprinkle to cover).
• Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until bubbly. Remove foil and continue baking for 15 additional minutes or until the cheese on top browns slightly.