From the Kitchen – the World’s Best Lasagna

This weekend’s meal and a movie is the World’s Best Lasagna^tm  and the movie is one we’ve watched before and love, John Carter (A Princess of Mars).  If you enjoy pulp, then watch it.  It’s a good movie and the reviewers, as usual, are to be ignored.  I’ve recommended the movie before here, so we’ll focus on the food.  If you need another dose of my arguments against common Christian apologetics, you can visit this blog where I have addressed such things. The author has been kind enough to allow my posts.  The claims are very, very typical, so if you’ve been following this blog, you’ll have already seen much the same here. 

Lasagna was a good dish for this weekend since we were also madly gardening.  Much terraforming was done by my husband and things look pretty good. They should, I hurt enough.  One odd thing that folks from other places might not know is that since we live near a cocoa processing plant, we can get the cocoa seed hulls for mulch. The result is a garden that smells like brownies. 

Now you may wonder what makes this lasagna the world’s best, at least in my opinion.  Well, it’s because of something my husband did to the lasagna.  The usual ingredients are all there, but it’s how they are combined that makes the difference.  It’s also more goodies than pasta, which can make some lasagnas seem like bricks.  This recipe is what fits in our 9”x13” glass baking dish, so it’s not hugely thick. 

7 lasagna noodles (whatever dried type of pasta you like)

1 large jar of Prego flavored with meat (this is the only sauce we like, size is around 2 pounds, or around a kilogram)

1 medium onion

1 green/red sweet pepper

2/3 pound of hot Italian sausage

1 pound of ground beef (we prefer 73/27 if we can get it, or 80/20 if we can’t)

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

½ c ground parmesan cheese (the stuff in the shaker is fine)

1 pound whole milk ricotta

2  large/jumbo eggs

Take lasagna noodles and boil until pliable but not fully cooked. 

Break up and fry ground beef.  Drain off fat and pour in Prego sauce. This is the “meat sauce” below.   

Dice pepper and onion, fry (use oil, burger fat, whatever) until there are some burnt edges. Allow to cool. 

Break up and fry sausage.  Drain fat and allow to cool. 

Place ricotta in bowl, add eggs and mix until smooth. Add sausage and onions/peppers. Mix well.  This is what makes the lasagna the best ever.  Something about mixing the sausage and the cheese makes both better. 

To construct: 

Cover bottom of dish with thin layer of meat sauce.

Cover with layer of mozzarella.

Cover with noodles. We use three per layer and the 7^th noodle is used to fill holes. 

Cover with ricotta mixture. 

Cover with noodles.

Cover with meat sauce.

Finish with layer of mozzarella.  Shake parmesan on top. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until golden on top. If your pan is as full as my husband makes ours, bake it on a cookie sheet to catch any wayward cheese or sauce.  Always good with homemade bread with butter and garlic and a nice Chianti!  

Eat well!