How to Make Lasagna

Here is a recipe for lasagna at its simplest. Modify it to your own taste by adding any extra ingredients you like to the sauce. Serves six to eight people. You can also substitute the different cheeses for other kinds that you like more to change the flavor of the lasagna.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Several large basil leaves
• 1/3 - 1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove cut in half
• 1 can (12-16 oz.) tomato sauce
• salt
• 1 (16-oz.) box lasagna noodles
• 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
• 8 oz. grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 to 12 oz. ricotta cheese
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1. Crush basil leaves by breaking or tearing them with your fingers. Set aside.

2. Warm extra-virgin olive oil in a saucepan, and add one garlic clove cut in half. Allow clove to sizzle for three to four minutes without letting it get too brown. Remove the garlic.

3. Add tomato sauce to the hot oil and stir. Add crushed basil leaves.

4. Put on very low heat, cover and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. As the tomato sauce simmers, fill a large pasta pot with 4 to 5 quarts water and a large pinch of salt. Bring to a boil.

6. Carefully place lasagna noodles in the boiling water and stir occasionally to ensure noodles do not stick together. Cook until al dente (slightly chewy).

7. Drain the noodles, but don't rinse them.

8. Generously oil the bottom of your 10-by-18-inch baking dish.

9. Cover the bottom of the pan with lasagna noodles.

10. Spread sauce over noodles with a spoon and top with a little of each cheese.

11. Repeat layers until pan is full, saving most of the cheese for the top.

12. Top with remaining sauce and cheese.

13. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. (You may need to cover the lasagna for the first 10 minutes to melt the cheese, then uncover it for the last 10 minutes to brown it.)

14. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Tips & Warnings

• Lasagna is a flexible dish: Try adding a pound of cooked veal, chicken, ground pork or ground beef to the sauce.
• Make vegetarian lasagna by chopping leftover vegetables and adding them to the sauce.
• Add or subtract cheeses to taste. You can even use cottage cheese or cheddar cheese.
• Garnish lasagna with finely chopped Italian parsley. (Italian parsley has flat leaves, rather than curly ones, and has a stronger flavor than regular parsley.)
• The cheese may burn if the lasagna is baked uncovered for longer than 10 minutes.

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on 8/8/2006 I use an oblong, glass dish and I layer it. I test my noodles with a metal skewer by poking them; not to soft. You don't want mush.
It takes me 2 days because I make meat balls and sauce the first day. Day 2 I cook and drain the noodles (9) for this dish.

1. Cover the bottom of a (9x13) oblong baking dish with your home-made sauce.
2. Place 3 strips of cooked noodles over sauce, longways.
3. Cover the strips with Ricotta cheese mix--(recipe below)
4. Cover the cheese mix with thin slices of Mozzarella cheese.
5. Layer with 3 more strips on noodles.
6. Cover the strips with meat sauce.
7. Cover meat sauce with Mozzarella cheese.
8. Put the last 3 strips of noodles on top, and add sauce over the last 3 strips with about 3 or 4 pieces of Mozzarella. cheese torn apart." NOTE:" You will use 9 strips of lasagna, meat sauce, Mozzarella cheese sliced thin, Ricotta (large container) cheese mix, 3 eggs, parsley(chopped fine,1/2- to 1 cup), and some grated Parmesan cheese.

Ricotta cheese mix:

1. Large container of Ricotta cheese. To this add 3 eggs, about, 1/2 cup of parsley (fine) and, 1/2 cup grated cheese, and mix well. This will fill your baking dish to the top. It will be nice and firm. Don't cover it, just put it on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool completely before cutting, so it don't run. You can cut any burnt edges with a scissors or sharp knife.

on 11/22/2005 You need to cover the dish with foil so that the trapped steam cooks the raw pasta, then take the foil off and cook 10 more minutes to brown the cheese. Stack the noodles one way, the next layer the other way (like you do when you stack wood). That way when you cut into the lasagna it won't fall apart as you plate it. Save me the corner piece!

on 11/22/2005 Boiling the large noodles needed for lasagna can make even a seasoned cook get antsy - they are very awkward to cook! A tasty, almost perfect alternative is lasagna noodles made especially for baking, as they require no boiling beforehand. This makes lasagna an easy dish for anyone (regardless of cooking prowess) to make.

on 11/22/2005 You don't need to buy those "no-boil" noodles...use plain old lasagne noodles and don't boil them first.I use a rubber scraper to spread the ricotta cheese right onto the hard noodle before it goes in the pan.It makes layering so much faster and the noodles will cook right in the sauce, plus absorb the excess oil. Your lasagne servings will be firmer and not soupy.

on 11/22/2005 Instead of generously oiling the pan, put a ladle of the sauce on the bottom. This will prevent it from sticking and will be lower in fat. Also, just before you put it into the oven, give the pan a few taps to get all the air bubbles out.