Homemade Lasagna…day 295

Sunday night Jay and I spent it cooking what turned out to be a delicious lasagna while Goose recovered from a pretty bad cold. We began our day by heading to City Market to buy all the items necessary for a homemade lasagna.

• 1 pound (450 g) of sweet Italian sausage
• 1 pound (450 g) of ground beef
• 1/2 cup (120 mL) of chopped onions
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 (28 ounce) (784 g) can of crushed tomatoes
• 2 (8 ounce) (230 g) cans of tomato sauce
• 2 (6 ounce) (168 g) cans of tomato paste
• 1/2 (120 mL) cup of water
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) white sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) fennel seed
• 2 teaspoons (10 mL) fresh Basil leaves chopped
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) fresh Italian parsley chopped
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) salt
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) ground pepper
• 23 ounces (644 g) of ricotta cheese.
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) fresh grated nutmeg 
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) fresh Italian parsley chopped

We began by browning the ground beef, Italian sausage, onions and garlic in a pot until they started to cook.  It takes about 6 to 9 minutes to brown the meat. 

Once the meat is ready, we added the crushed tomato, tomato sauce, tomato paste (this last one I had never used before).

Then gently stirred in the white sugar, fennel seed, basil, parsley, salt, italian seasoning and ground pepper.

Cover the pot and let the meat sauce simmer.  Simmer on low heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes  This is the ideal simmer time but not mandatory.  If you don’t have time it will still be great after one hour of simmering. 

 The lasagna noodles need to be soaked in hot tap water for 15 minutes.  While the noodles are soaking we prepared the cheese filling. 

Put the ricotta cheese, fresh grated nutmeg, egg and parsley in a mixing bowl and mix them with a spoon. 

Now we start putting the lasagna together! Use a 9x13 inch baking pan (this will serve 12 people) and spread 2 cups of meat sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Layer 6 noodles across the layer of sauce, and spread half of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Spread half of the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over the ricotta layer.

Spread 2 cups of meat sauce over the cheese alter and lay down the next layer of noodles. Spread the remaining ricotta mixture, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses and top it off with the last layer of meat sauce and cheese.

Cover with foil, bake in preheat at 350F for 25 minutes, followed by 25 more without the foil.

To be honest, the lasagna turned out way better that we expected—considering this was our first time cooking one of these. Next week we shall try cannelloni!