Manly 3-Meat 3-Cheese Lasagna

For the sauce:
Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and garlic; sauté until softened, about 12 minutes. The carrots sound weird, but they really do add something. Add beef and sausage to pan; sauté until cooked through, breaking up meat with back of spoon, about 5 minutes. Add pepperoni halfway through cooking of beef, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients: crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, beef stock, basil, brown sugar, oregano, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes. Cover and simmer until flavors blend and sauce measures about 5 cups, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Cool properly if preparing ahead of time.

For the lasagna:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Drain; cover with cold water. (You can use no-cook noodles, I just prefer not to. There is plenty of liquid to make them work if you use no-cook noodles, just don’t reduce the sauce quite as much.)

Combine ricotta and 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese in medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in eggs.

Drain pasta and pat dry. Spread 1/2 cup sauce over bottom of 13×9-inch glass baking dish. Place 5 noodles over sauce, overlapping to fit. Spread half of ricotta mixture evenly over noodles. Sprinkle 2 cups mozzarella cheese evenly over ricotta mixture. Spoon 1 1/2 cups sauce over cheese, spreading with spatula to cover (sauce will be thick). Repeat layering with 5 noodles, remaining ricotta mixture, 2 cups mozzarella and 1 1/2 cups sauce. Arrange remaining 5 noodles over sauce. Spread remaining sauce over noodles. Sprinkle remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese evenly over lasagna. (This can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.)

Cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake lasagna 50 minutes; uncover and bake until hot and bubbly, about 40 minutes. Let lasagna stand 15 minutes before serving.