San Giorgio Lasagna

from ButterYum

makes 8-12 servings

Ingredients

For the Meat Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 small onion, diced

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 pound ground beef

• 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

• sprig of fresh basil (stem with 6-8 leaves)

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Additional Ingredients:

• 16 ounces lasagna noodles, cooked

• 32 ounces (4 cups) ricotta cheese

• 8 ounces (2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese

• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

• 2 large eggs

• 1 tablespoon dried parsley

• shredded mozzarella for sprinkling on top of lasagna

Directions

To Make the Meat Sauce:

1. In a large skillet, saute onions in olive oil, stirring frequently, until caramelized; add garlic and stir constantly for 30-60 seconds.

2. Add the ground beef and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until meat is brown and crumbled; drain excess fat if needed.

3. Add crushed tomatoes and basil; reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 10 minutes. 

4. Remove basil sprig and taste; add salt and pepper if needed.

To Make the Cheese Filling:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, eggs, and parsley;  mix until thoroughly combined.

To Make the Lasagna:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and place rack in the lower center position.

2. Butter or spray a deep 9x13-inch lasagna pan with nonstick cooking spray (this is my favorite lasagna pan).

3. Line the bottom of the lasagna pan with 1/2 cup of meat sauce.

4. Top with a single layer of 3 or 4 lasagna noodles (trimming to fit the pan, if needed).

5. Next spread 1/3 of the cheese filling evenly over the noodles, followed by 1 cup of the meat sauce.

6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 two more times.

7. Finish with one more layer of lasagna noodles, the remaining meat sauce, and a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese.

8. Cover dish tightly with nonstick foil and place on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any drips.

9. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until bubbly and the temperature in the center of the lasagna reaches 160F. 

10. Remove foil and turn on broiler to brown the cheesy top layer (this should happen quickly so don’t leave the lasagna unsupervised); remove from oven and rest for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Notes

• After boiling the lasagna noodles, I like to cool them in a bowl of cold water before placing them between layers of clean kitchen towels where they’ll rest until I need them. They’ll keep this way for several hours.  You can also roll the towels up and place them in a large plastic bag to store in the fridge overnight.  To cook the noodles 2 or 3 days ahead of time, cook, cool, and dry them before coating them with a little oil, then roll them individually and place in a large zip-top bag in the fridge.

• This recipe can be assembled and refrigerated up to 5 days ahead of time.  To cook, place the cold casserole dish in the center of a cold oven.  Turn oven on and increase overall cooking time by 10-20 minutes.

• If you don’t have nonstick foil, you can use regular foil - just spray the side that touches the cheese with nonstick cooking spray.

• The original recipe calls for uncooked lasagna noodles and 4 large eggs.  I haven’t tested this version, but I thought I’d mention it for those who might be interested in the convenience of uncooked lasagna noodles.

adapted from San Giorgio