i volunteered to make lasagna for easter sunday dinner and then my mom told me to be at her house by 2:30. which meant i had to have everything cooked and be dressed and ready to leave the house by 2:00. and it usually takes me about 4 to 5 hours to make lasagna, so that was just not going to work out.
i decided to make the sauce saturday night and have it ready so that all i had to do sunday morning was prepare the lasagna and pop it in the oven. doing this made my life so much easier! actually, i may make lasagna more often than just once a year now that i figured out i can make the sauce the night before! i think husband will be so happy. it's one of his favorite meals ;)
so today, i'm going to share my lasagna recipe with you and show you how i made my meat sauce. because let's face it, the sauce is what makes the lasagna good or bad! i stole this recipe from my best friend, paula. actually, most of what i know how to cook is because of her. thank you, paulita linda for sharing your ways with me!
1.5 lbs chopped meat
1 onion, cut
8 or so garlic cloves, minced
3 fresh vine tomatoes, diced without the seeds
fresh basil, chopped
olive oil
2 cans of crushed tomatoes
small can of tomato paste
whole milk ricotta cheese
whole milk shredded mozzarella
oven ready lasagna pasta
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of sugar
salt, pepper, garlic powder and adobo
- sauté/fry onions, garlic and tomatoes in oil until soft, add salt, pepper, garlic powder and adobo
- add meat and cook until brown
- add crushed tomatoes, both cans and paste (add tablespoon of sugar to cut acid)
- wash and chop fresh basil and add
- let cook for 2 hours-simmer on low with lid partially on. stir every 15-20 minutes (cooked within an hour but the longer it cooks, the better)
- in a separate bowl, mix eggs, a little salt and adobo and ricotta cheese
- when sauce is done, take oven dish and add sauce on the bottom
- layer pasta over the sauce, then ricotta cheese mixture, then sauce and shredded cheese, pasta, ricotta cheese, sauce, shredded cheese (layer 2 or 3 times)
- top layer: no ricotta, just sauce and shredded cheese
- cover with aluminum and cook according to time and temp on pasta box
and because sunday morning husband whipped out the camera while i was putting the lasagna together, here's a picture of me in my nightgown ;)
if you make this recipe, please let me know!! do you have any special recipes you'd like to share?? i love cooking and trying out new dishes ;)
photographs by blissfulkaos.
