Seriously Delicious Lasagna
I don’t know what I love most about lasagna. Is it the cheesy ooey-gooey goodness? The browned meats? The fresh tomato sauce? It’s truly hard to pick and I hope I’m never forced into that kind of Sophie’s Choice situation. This lasagna includes the meat trifecta of any mouth-watering Italian food - ground beef, ground veal, and ground pork. I then add in crispy diced pancetta for a nice salty pop. Pair all that with onions, lots of garlic, bell pepper, fresh parsley and of course lots and lots of cheese and you find yourself with a seriously delicious lasagna (yes, I’m very creative with my naming choices here, folks).
Garfield may be my spirit animal because I seriously love lasagna.
RECIPE - yields 12 servings
TIME - 90 minutes
INGREDIENTS
Meat sauce:
1/3 lb ground beef, 1/3 lb ground veal, 1/3 lb ground pork (or 1 lb meatloaf mix which is an even mixture of these 3 meats)
4 oz diced pancetta
28-oz can tomato sauce
14-oz can crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3-4 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons red wine
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Lasagna assembly:
12 lasagna noodles (I always cook a couple extra for emergency backups)
15 oz Ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
24 oz grated Mozzarella cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Additional Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, and fresh chopped parsley for garnish
Optional: 1 cup store bought marinara sauce for topping lasagna
DIRECTIONS
Add pancetta to a large skillet and cook until lightly browned, 3-4 minutes.
Add to pancetta remaining meats - ground beef, veal, and pork and cook until browned. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Using a slotted spoon, remove meats from pan and set aside.
In the same pan, add diced onion and bell pepper. (Add up to 1 tablespoon of butter if additional cooking fat is needed to evenly coat the onion and bell peppers.) Season generously with salt and pepper. Cook for 5-6 minutes on medium-high heat.
Add garlic to pan with onions and peppers and cook until fragrant - about 1 minute.
Add 3 tablespoons of red wine to pan to deglaze - continue cooking for 30-60 more seconds. Remove from heat.
In a large pot, add 28-oz tomato sauce, 14-oz crushed tomatoes, 3 tablespoons tomato paste, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, granulated sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.
Add cooked veggies and meats to the large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and continue cooking for another 20-25 minutes. Once done, remove from heat and stir in fresh parsley.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
While sauce simmers, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for lasagna noodles and cook accordingly.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix together Ricotta and Parmesan cheese and add salt and pepper according to taste.
In a 13x9 pan, add enough meat sauce to evenly coat the bottom of the pan. Next add an even layer of noodles, then Ricotta/Parmesan mixture, then grated Mozzarella cheese, and more meat sauce - so on and so forth until you’ve run out of ingredients.
Finish the lasagna with noodles and a hefty portion of Mozzarella cheese.
Bake at 375 covered for 30 minutes and uncovered for an additional 15 minutes (45 minutes total baking time). Garnish with sauce, Parmesan cheese, fresh parsley, and red pepper flakes.
Note: If you have sauce leftover, save it to top your lasagna with after baking (especially if you plan to have leftovers - adding extra sauce makes it taste so much better heated up the next day). I always keep an extra jar of store-bought marinara sauce on hand (I buy Rao’s) and add this to the top instead of meat sauce…because I normally don’t have meat sauce leftover because it’s so yummy!