Fabulous Lasagna Food

WORLD'S BEST LASAGNA

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

LASAGNE

Steps:

• First, make the béchamel sauce. Put the milk, onion, bay leaves and cloves into a large saucepan and bring very gently just up to the boil. Turn off the heat and set aside for 1 hr to infuse.
• For the meat sauce, put the oil, celery, onion, carrot, garlic and pancetta in another large saucepan. Gently cook together until the veg is soft but not coloured.
• Tip in the beef and pork mince, the milk and chopped tomatoes. Using a wooden spoon, stir together and break up and mash the lumps of mince against the sides of the pan. When the mince is mostly broken down, stir in all the herbs, the stock cubes and the red wine, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 1 hr, stirring occasionally to stop the bottom catching.
• Uncover and gently simmer for another 30 mins-1 hr until the meat is tender and saucy. Taste and season.
• To finish the béchamel sauce, strain the milk through a fine sieve into one or two jugs. Melt the butter in the same pan then, using a wooden spoon, mix in the flour and cook for 2 mins.
• Stir in the strained milk, a little at a time - the mix will thicken at first to a doughy paste, but keep going, adding milk gradually to avoid lumps. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly (if you have lumps, give it a quick whisk). Gently bubble for a few minutes until thickened. Season with salt, pepper and a good grating of nutmeg.
• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Spread a spoonful of the meat sauce over the base of a roughly 3.5-litre baking dish. Cover with a single layer of dried pasta sheets, snapping them to fit if needed, then top with a quarter of the béchamel. Spoon over a third of the meat sauce and scatter over a little of the parmesan.
• Repeat the layers - pasta, béchamel, meat and parmesan - two more times to use all the meat sauce. Add a final layer of pasta, the last of the béchamel and remaining parmesan. Sit the dish on a baking tray to catch spills and bake for 1 hr until bubbling, browned and crisp on top.

FABULOUS LASAGNA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Crumble sausage into large skillet; cook on medium-high heat until evenly browned, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, mix egg, ricotta, seasonings and 1 cup mozzarella until blended.
• Drain sausage. Spread 1/4 cup pasta sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; top with layers of 3 noodles, 1/4 each of the ricotta mixture and sausage, and a scant 1/2 cup pasta sauce. Repeat layers 3 times. Top with remaining cheeses; cover.
• Bake 1 hour or until heated through, uncovering for the last 15 min. Let stand 10 min. before cutting to serve.