There is nothing better than a delicious homemade Lasagna. My Simple Lasagna will become one of your families favorites it is a loaded with layers of perfect spiced meat and marinara, cheese and pasta. You can make this ahead and freeze to pull out and cook when you need it.
Lasagna is a crowd pleaser. I have tried several recipes, one that had a sauce that took all day to simmer on the stove top before assembly and cost a small fortune in ingredients, and several vegetable versions. All were good, but this is really great and it is so darn simple and delicious. The meat and tomato sauce is perfect to serve over any noodle and can be frozen to pull out later. Another wonderful thing about Lasagna is that it can be assembled the day before, refrigerated and cooked the next day. It also freezes well, for a delicious dinner down the road. Now is the time to start cooking and freezing dinners to sustain us through the crazy holidays, so pick up double the ingredients like I did, make one dinner for tonight and throw the second one together for the freezer.
If you plan on freezing, go ahead and cook, let cool and stick in the refrigerator to chill 1-2 hours. Remove, wrap in foil really well, we don’t want freezer burn down the road. Mark the date and freeze for up to 3 months. When you are ready to cook, remove the night before and stick in the refrigerator to start the defrost (I usually put it out on the counter-top the morning I plan to reheat). Set oven to 180 degrees, when thawed, remove foil and reheat for 30-40 minutes.
Simple Lasagna
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 10-12
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb ground chuck
- 1 lb ground Italian sausage
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoon ground oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried chopped basil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce (I used Schiavone’s Marinara with Basil Sauce)
- 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 1/2 cup small curd cottage cheese
- 1 (5-ounce)package grated Parmigianno-Reggiano
- 2 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley leaves
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 9 oven ready lasagna noodles
- 2 (8-ounce) packages shredded mozzarella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large saucepan, combine ground chuck, sausage onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat until meat is browned and crumbled; drain.
- Return meat to pan and add oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 to 45 minutes.
- In a small bowl, combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, parsley, and eggs.
- Spoon 1/4 of sauce into bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking pan. Place 3 uncooked lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Do not overlap noodles.
- Spread 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture over noodles. Use an of-set knife or butter knife to spread evenly over noodles.
- Top with 1/4 of sauce and 1/3 mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, ending with sauce, reserving 1/3 of mozzarella cheese.
- Bake 45 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and bake 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.
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Seriously, Amy…is this delicious? Because if it is, I’m all over it. I love lasagna, and I love having one on hand in the freezer, but I do NOT love hours and hours of preparation.
Okay. I’m trying it. 🙂
My hubby grew up with an italian mother and he said it was delicious. If that is not a stamp of approval, I don’t know what is!! 😉
LASAGNA REPORT: The Sunday-night crowd loved the lasagna.
I decided to put the final mozzarella-cheese layer on the top and cook it there for the entire hour so it could get all dark and crunchy and toasty. Served with Caesar salad (my homemade famous Caesar salad dressing and homemade croutons) and good, fresh bread. It was perfect!
This looks like a great recipe – thanks for sharing! I know it is too late for New Year’s resolutions, but I’d like to start doing a once a month cook session to freeze food to eat later…I think that would help me eat healthier.
That is a great idea Liz.