
I don't know why, but for years I was convinced that lasagna was hard to make. It tasted so good that it had to be difficult. Then I finally made my own, which you can see above, and the rest was history. Below, I'm going to adapt my first and favorite lasagna recipe for the young ones. It will cut a little bit of the flavor, but it will simplify things a whole lot. Still, it's a bit more involved than the other recipes, but should be just fine with a little supervision.
3-Cheese Lasagna
for a 13x9 dish
Ingredients:
Ground beef -- approximately 12 oz, or 3/4 of a pound
1 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 bottle tomato sauce (preferably a thick garlic or cheese-based variety)
Lasagna noodles -- approximately 15
30 oz of ricotta cheese
10 oz package of thawed and drained frozen spinach -- squeezed dry
2 large eggs
1 cup grated parmesan
4-5 cups grated mozzarella
Saute onions and garlic in oil on medium heat until softened. Add the ground beef, and break into pieces with a spatula while it browns. Once browned, add tomato sauce and let it simmer for a little bit before turning off the heat.
Meanwhile, combine the ricotta, spinach, and 3/4 cup of the parmesan together in a bowl, then mix in the eggs.
When all the ingredients are set, layer ingredients in dish as follows:
-Spread a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the dish -- about half a cup.
-Overlap 5 no-cook noodles on top of the sauce so that they span the entire dish.
-Spread half of the ricotta cheese mixture on the noodles.
-Sprinkle about 2 cups of mozzarella.
-Spoon another 1-2 cups of sauce next.
-Repeat the steps once.
-Add a layer of noodles.
-Top with remaining sauce, and then remaining mozzarella and parmesan.
Cover the dish with aluminum foil and put it in the oven for 40 minutes before uncovering it carefully and baking for another 40 more -- until the lasagna is bubbly.













