Lasagne with Rich Meat Sauce

Main Course

Recipe courtesy of Classic American Food Without Fuss

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients: 
  • 1 pound fresh lasagne sheets
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, minced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 pound meatloaf mix, or ground chuck
  • 1/2 cup dry red wine
  • 2 cups bottled Italian marinara sauce
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
  • cups (1 pound) ricotta cheese
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • fresshly grated nutmeg to taste
  • 1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, cut into small dice
  • 1/2 cup grated pedorino romano cheese

Lasagne with Rich Meat Sauce

Click image to enlarge

Method: 

Cut the lasagne sheets, if necessary, into 5- by 12-inch strips and blanch in batches in 6 quarts water brought to a rolling boil with the salt. Drop the strips into the water crisscross fashion so they don't stick together. Cook them for about 3 minutes or until the pasta is slightly undercooked. Spread the cooked strips out on a cookie sheet and lightly blot up any little pools of water with a paper towel. Oil or butter the bottom of a 9x13-inch lasagne pan and line it with a single layer of pasta strips. Do not overlap them but do let the strips climb the sides and ends of the pan a little to keep the sauce from oozing out. Pour the oil into a heavy skillet and sauté the onion and garlic until the onion is transluscent, not brown. Add the ground meat and cook over medium-high heat, breaking up the lumps with the back of a wooden spoon. When the meat is cooked and smooth, season with salt and pepper, add the red wine, and sizzle off the alcohol for a minute. Reduce the heat to low, add the marinara sauce and basil, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Mix together the ricotta, the beaten egg, nutmeg, and mozzarella and romano cheeses. Lightly salt it ad add freshly ground pepper.

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. 

To assemble the dish, spread a think layer of meat sauce over the pasta lining the pan. Spread a thin layer of the cheese and egg mixture over the meat sauce and top with another layer of lasagne strips. Repeat this layer ing sequency using all the lasagne and resist the temptation to thicken the sauce layers. The finaly layer should be cheese. Bake for 40 minutes. Check after 20 minutes to see if an excess of watery juice needs to be poured off. 

Note: Lasagne reheats perfectly, in fact benefits from it. You can complete the dish in the morning and reheat it for dinner or cover and refrigerate it for a couple of days. You can also freeze it, so consider doubling the recipe and make two while you're at it. One to eat and one to freeze.


 

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