Lasagna
One of our resolutions at the start of the year was to try our hand at making lasagne, which neither of us had ever made. Given the wealth of obscurer dishes we've tried, I'm not sure why it's taken us this long to try it. We had extra ricotta cheese after making our delicious gnudi last week, so we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to give it a go.
Recipe
from Allrecipes.comServes 121 lb sweet Italian sausage¾ lb lean ground beef½ cup minced onion2 garlic cloves, crushed1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes2 6-oz cans tomato paste2 6.5 oz cans canned tomato sauce½ cup water2 tbsp white sugar1½ tsp dried basil½ tsp fennel seeds1 tsp Italian seasoning1 tbsp plus ½ tsp salt¼ tsp ground black pepper4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley12 lasagna noodles16 oz ricotta cheese1 egg¾ lb mozzarella cheese, sliced¾ cup Parmesan cheese, gratedIn a large pot, 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 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1½ hours, stirring occasionally.In a bowl, soak the lasagna noodles in hot water for 20 minutes and then drain. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley and ½ tsp salt. Preheat oven to 375 F.To assemble, spread 1½ cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9"x13" baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over the meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of the mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1½ cups meat sauce over mozzarella and sprinkle with ¼ cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Musings
A few notes on preparation: I couldn't find sweet Italian sausage, so we used mild Italian sausage. We increased the amount of beef to 1 lb, used 1 15 oz can of canned tomato sauce and instead of water used ¾ cup red wine and ¼ cup chicken stock.Super delicious! It was also surprisingly straightforward to make. Other than the simmering of the meat sauce, which ultimately isn't that taxing (just stir it occasionally), it was quite an easy dish. It had a wonderful full flavour from the combination of beef and pork, and the fennel seeds really added a nice dimension to it. It also made fantastic leftovers for the next week. Calling it a win!