8-Pound Lasagna

This lasagna is designed to be prepared in 2 phases: meat sauce and lasagna.

Meat Sauce:

Add extra virgin olive oil to a large pan on medium heat. Add one large yellow onion (diced) and 4 cloves minced garlic (more or less to taste) to pan. Saute mixture taking care to not burn the garlic.

When the onion/garlic mixture is sauteed, add 3 pounds of ground beef and brown. Add salt and pepper to taste (keeping in mind that the cheese used in the lasagna contains salt).

When the beef is browned and mixed well with the sauteed onions/garlic, drain the oil off. Add in the large can of crushed tomatoes and stir. Once well mixed, add a small amount of the tomato sauce to the pan (more or less depending on how saucy you want it). At this time, you can add the small can of diced tomatoes (if desired).

Stir well and bring the mixture up to a slow boil. At this time, add the small can of tomato paste as well as the Italian seasonings (fresh or dried), any other spices you desire, and sugar to the mix. Go light on the sugar first and add more to taste. You don’t want your sauce sweet. Mix all of this together at a slow boil.

Taste the sauce and do any final flavor adjustments – salt, pepper, spices, herbs, etc. Bring the sauce to a full boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for at least an hour. (I have found the longer I simmer, the better it tastes.)

Lasagna:

Once your sauce is ready, you can assemble your lasagna.

Put the two containers of ricotta cheese into a mixing bowl and add one egg, Italian seasonings, and salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients and set aside for later use.

Start by spreading a small amount of the meat sauce into the bottom of a 13×9 baking pan.

Take an oven ready lasagna noodle (uncooked) and spread the ricotta mixture on it. Lay this in the bottom of the pan. Repeat until the bottom of the pan is covered with a layer of noodles and ricotta.

Spread a thick, even layer of the meat sauce onto the layer of noodles and ricotta. Cover the meat sauce layer with shredded mozzarella cheese. Cover the cheese layer with a layer of pepperoni. Sprinkle a little more mozzarella as well as some of the Parmesan cheese on top of the pepperoni layer.

Repeat at least once more. You want at least 2 layers of the lasagna. On the top of the final layer, spread the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan and sprinkle with Italian seasonings.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is browning and bubbling (about 20 minutes).