Ah, lasagna. One word that evokes childhood and delicious smells from the kitchen. And also, that rascal, Garfield the cat, always stealing lasagna from his person, Jon. This is one of those relatively simple meals that is always good, but difficult to make outstanding. My husband’s favorite Italian dish is lasagna. After tasting this version of my lasagna, he dubbed it “better than anything he’d ever had in a restaurant” so I figured I had gotten this right and wouldn’t tinker with the recipe anymore. Follow the instructions below and you’ll be the beneficiary of a couple years (OK, while it took a couple of years, I only made lasagna twice a year) of tinkering. Happy cooking and eating.

Ingredients

• 15 oz of ricotta cheese
• 1-1/4 cups parmesan reggiano cheese
• 1/3 cup minced fresh basil
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1-1/2 jars of spaghetti sauce
• 1 package of no-boil lasagna noodles
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella
• 1 lb of ground beef
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 T olive oil
• 8 medium mushrooms
• 1 small onion, diced
• Italian spices

Instructions – Getting the Mixes Ready

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Put a medium or large skillet on the stovetop over medium heat. Add the ground beef and brown.
• Add the garlic after beef has been cooking for about 3-4 minutes. Mix well.
• Once beef is nicely browned, turn off heat.
• Add 1 cup of spaghetti sauce to the ground beef and mix well.

    

• While the beef is cooking, in separate skillet, add about 1/2 T of olive oil and cook for about 2 minutes over medium heat.
• Add the onions and cook for another ~3 minutes.
• Add the mushrooms, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp italian spices and cook until the mushrooms are slightly softened, about another 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat.
• Add the onion and mushrooms to the beef and mix well.

    

• While you are waiting for the beef and vegetables to cook, in a large bowl, mix the ricotta, 1 cup of the parmesan cheese, basil, parsley, egg, salt and pepper until combined well.

  

Instructions – Layering the Lasagna

• In a 9×13″ baking dish, place 1/4 cup of spaghetti sauce and spread over the bottom.
• Place 3 lasagna noodles over the sauce.
• Drop 3 T of the ricotta mixture over the center of each noodle, then spread it so it’s thickness is even.

    

• Drop a similar amount of the meat and vegetable mixture over the ricotta mix and spread evenly.
• Sprinkle 1 cup mozzarella cheese over the top.
• Spoon about 1-1/2 cups of spaghetti sauce over the cheese.

    

• Cover with 3 noodles.
• Repeat until there are 3 layers of filling/4 layers of noodles.
• After 4th layer of noodles is placed, spread the remaining sauce (~1-1/4 cups) over the noodles.
• Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over the sauce.
• Sprinkle the top with italian spices.

    

Instructions – Cooking the Lasagna

• Lightly spray a piece of tin foil with oil.
• Place foil over lasagna filled baking dish and place into preheated oven in center rack.
• Cook for 15 minutes.
• Remove foil and cook an additional 15 minutes.
• Let rest for at least 5 minutes after removing from oven before serving.

    

    

Ideas

• Ricotta cheese – the whole milk version is the best. Heck, you’re splurging and eating lasagna with all that cheese. Don’t get ricotta that isn’t made from whole milk.
• Parmesan cheese – you can use regular parmesan, and that’ll be just fine. BUT, if you are a Costco member, I highly recommend you get some Parmigiano Reggiano.
• Spaghetti sauce – as with so many recipes, the key is to make some things easier or, frankly, you just won’t find the time to cook them. You can make your own tomato sauce, and if you like to do this, by all means, go ahead. As for me (and on a weeknight), I trust Trader Joe’s marinara sauce.
• Ground beef – choose beef that is at least 85% lean. My preference is 90%. You don’t want to be draining oil from the pan if you don’t have to.