From Scratch Lasagna

Completed lasagnas ready to cook or freeze

Since most of us are still confined to our homes, here is a project that will take up about half a day and you will end up with a couple of large pans of lasagna in your freezer, for when you can have friends and family over again. We will start by making a thick meat sauce. Then prepare the ricotta mixture and boil the lasagna noodles. Once all of these components are ready I will walk you through how to assemble the lasagna. If you are going to use one of the lasagnas immediately, start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. If you want to freeze both pans you can skip that step. You will need two large lasagna pans. I use 9x12" aluminum lasagna pans. They need to be at least 2.5" deep. 

Sauce Ingredients:

2.5 Lbs. loose Italian sausage (you can mix italian sausage with                      ground beef if you prefer) 
2 tsp. Fennel Seed
2 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Med. Onion - finely diced
12 - 14 Garlic Cloves - minced
4  28Oz. Cans Crushed Italian Tomatoes
2  28 Oz. Cans Diced Tomatoes
2 TBSP +or - Italian Seasoning 
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes - to taste

Sauce Preparation:

Using a large skillet, brown the Italian Sausage. Add the Fennel seed to the sausage as it is browning. I add the fennel as I like a very savory sauce. Feel free to leave the fennel out if you like your sauce a little less savory. You don't need to cook the sausage all the way through as it will cook more in the sauce and when you bake the lasagna. Add the olive oil to a large heavy bottomed soup pot over medium-low heat. Add the onion and sweat until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and continue to cook for a minute or so, until the garlic has softened and is fragrant, but not brown. Add all of  the canned tomatoes, increasing the heat to medium. When the sauce begins to simmer and is hot all the way through, begin to add seasoning. Add about half of the Italian seasoning, half of the salt and pepper and a few red pepper flakes. Stir in and taste. Remember it is easier to add seasoning than it is to take it out. Keep adding seasoning as desired. You may use more or less than I have spelled out in the recipe. The important thing is the sauce tastes right to you. Once you like the seasoning in the sauce, using a slotted spoon, add the browned sausage and stir it into the sauce. Let the sauce simmer on low heat while you go on to the next steps. The result should be a very thick sauce, which is what you want for lasagna. Your sauce should look something like this:

Ricotta Mixture Ingredients:

2 -15Oz. containers Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 TBSP Chopped Fresh Oregano
2 TBSP Chopped Fresh Parsley

Preparation:

Mix the parmesan cheese and the oregano and parsley into the ricotta. Beat until you have a smooth blend and the herbs are evenly spread through the mixture. Set aside.

Noodle Ingredients:

Large Pot of Water
1 TBSP salt
Roll of wax paper. 
24 Lasagna Noodles


Preparation:

Spread wax paper on your countertop, or better yet, in some jelly roll pans. You will need enough space to lay out 12 cooked noodles at a time. Add salt to the water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add 12 noodles to the boiling water and cook per the package directions. Use a tongs to keep separating the noodles as they cook, so that they don't stick together. When noodles are al dente remove from the water one at a time with the tongs and lay out flat on the wax paper. In the picture below, you can see the cooked noodles laid out on the wax paper. If this looks like too much of a mess for you, you can use the noodles that don't require boiling. I don't like them for several reasons: the texture is different, you can't cut them to size, they are smaller, etc. etc. but I will leave that up to you. 

Now we are ready to begin assembling our first pan of lasagna. In the photo above you will see that I have set up an assembly line. You will need the following. 

Ingredients:

Lasagna Pan
Sauce from above recipe
Ricotta mixture from above recipe
Cooked Noodles
2.5 Cups Mozzarella Cheese for each pan of Lasagna
1/3 Cup Grated Parmesan for each pan of Lasagna

Preparation:

Using a rubber spatula, spread half of the ricotta mixture on the 12 cooked noodles while they are still laying on the waxed paper. I have learned that this is much easier and quicker that trying to spread the mixture on the noodles after you have laid them in the pan. Here is what my noodles looked like once they were spread with the ricotta mixture. 

Ladle about 2.5 Cups of Sauce into the bottom of one of the pans. The bottom of the pan should be covered but the sauce should not be too deep. Top the sauce with four of the noodles that have the ricotta mixture on them. Trim the noodles with a kitchen shears if they are too long for the pan. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the Mozzarella Cheese on the noodles. Now add another layer of sauce, then the next four noodles with Ricotta and another third of the Mozzarella. Repeat again with a third layer of sauce, noodles, ricotta and Mozzarella. Spread the 1/3 Cup Parmesan evenly over the top. Set the assembled lasagna aside. Now prepare the second batch of noodles as above and repeat the same assembly process for the second lasagna. If you are going to freeze either of the lasagnas allow it to cool. Once the lasagna has reached room temp you can cover it with Saran and foil and Freeze. If you are going to use the lasagna immediately, cover with foil and put in the 350 degree oven sitting on a cookie sheet. Cook for about forty minutes covered and then remove the foil and cook for another fifteen minutes or until it is hot and bubbly. Let stand for a few minutes before serving. This will allow the lasagna to set up and you will be able to cut nice portions that hold together. Serve with a green salad, crusty bread and a nice Italian red wine.  Enjoy!!!