Many years ago one of good friends shared her lasagna recipe with me. I had never tasted lasagna before and from the first morsel, I was hooked. It takes more than an hour to make the sauce but it is well worth the time and effort.
Lasagna
Ingredients:
1/4 cups Parmesan cheese
1 tub cottage cheese
1 egg
3 cups mozzarella cheese
1 pk oven-ready noodle
Sauce
1 lb ground beef
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 chopped onion
½ cup green peppers
2 cans tomato paste
1 (7oz) can tomato sauce
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
½ cup water
1 tsp salt & pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp thyme
1 tbsp sugar
½ tsp garlic
4 bay leaves
Directions
Cook meat, garlic, onions and peppers in large skillet. Stir in tomatoes, paste, sauce and water. Add sugar, seasonings and spices and sir. Simmer 1 1/2 hours; remove bay leaves.
In 11x15x2 pan, spread a layer of sauce (1 1/2 cups) on bottom. Then add a single layer of noodles. Mix the egg and cottage cheese and spread evenly over the noodles. Add another layer of noodles followed by 1 1/2 cups of sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over the sauce. Layer 1/3 of the mozzeralla cheese over Parmesan. Add the final layer of noodles and top with 1 1/2 cups of the sauce. Spread the remaining mozeralla over the sauce and sprinkle remaining Parmesan over top.
Cover with foil wrap and bake 30 minutes in moderate oven (350°). remove the foil and continue baking an additional 15 minutes. Allow the lasagna to rest 15 minutes prior to serving.
TIPS:
This meal goes great with a Caesar Salad and garlic bread.
If you are in a hurry and no time to make the sauce from scratch, just use 2 cans of pasta sauce. My grandchildren preferred it this way as that’s what they were used to growing up. Ah, but I still like the original recipe best!
