La La Lasagna

This Lasagna is a three layered mixture of fresh pasta, tomato meat sauce and Ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over the top layer.

A family favourite! While I was growing up, potatoes were served with every meal. The first time my mother prepared lasagna, my father insisted that potatoes be served along side! Today, we love our lasagna with a nice green salad.

Print recipe

This lasagna is a perfect mixture of flavours and comfort food after a long day. It may be prepared the day ahead and then baked just before serving.

Ingredients

handful basil leaves (each leaf cut into 5 or 6 pieces depending on the size of the leaf. You can substitute dried basil, if you do not have fresh)
2 cups Ricotta cheese (about what you would find in normal size container at the store)
1 packet fresh lasagna sheets (no precooking required) (each package usually holds 6 large sheets which is enough for a nice sized lasagna. If you cannot get the fresh pasta, then substitue with dried lasagna noodles that have been prepared according to the package.)
Just Enough Italian cheese mixture (I like a mixture of Mozarella, Provolone, Asiago.)
Just Enough Parmesan cheese (freshly grated)

Sauce

500g lean ground beef
1 Medium onion (chopped into smaller pieces)
1 - 2 clove garlic (finely chopped)
38oz unsalted diced tomatoes (when tomatoes are plentiful in the summer, always use fresh!)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
pepper (freshly ground)

Directions

Creating the Sauce

In a medium sized frying pan, fry the onions and garlic in a little bit of olive oil until the onions are translucent, about 3 - 5 minutes. Then add the lean ground beef. Break up the beef into pieces with a spatula while it is frying. Continue to cook the mixture until it is nicely browned. If you are using lean ground beef, then there will be very little fat left in the pan. If there is some extra fat in the pan, pour it off and dispose of it.

Put the meat mixture into a sauce pan and add the tomatoes, salt, oregano and freshly ground pepper. Stir this mixture together and cook it until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn the burner off.
Building the lasagna

I like to use a 13" x 9" x 2" (3qt or 2.83 L) Pyrex dish (substitute with any suitable dish that can be used in an oven).

Now start to build the lasagna. Start with a layer of the beef mixture, followed by a layer of the pasta (you may have to cut the fresh pasta to make it fit), followed by about a third of the Ricotta, a nice sprinkling of Parmesan and just enough freshly chopped basil. Repeat this two more times (beef mixture, noodles, cheese), ending with a top layer of the beef mixture.

Sprinkle the grated Italian cheese mixture (or just Mozzarella) evenly over the lasagna. Cover the top with aluminum foil. It is now ready to be baked.

You can now put the prepared lasagna in the fridge until you are ready to bake it or put it in a 350 degree oven. It should be nice and bubbly in about 45 minutes (remove the tin foil for the last 10 minutes of baking). If it has been refrigerated, please allow an extra 15 minutes of baking). 8 Servings.

Leftovers (if there are any!) may be frozen and reheated either in the oven or microwave.