Homemade Lasagna

Start by making the sauce. Into a large saucepan, add the tomato sauce, salt, garlic, pepper, and chili flakes. Set aside.

Cook the ground chuck in a skillet over medium heat. Break it up as it cooks, into a nice fine crumble. Once it’s fully browned, drain any fat from the meat. Add the meat into the sauce, and give that a good stir. Cover and cook on low for one hour. Towards the end, add in the fresh basil and give the sauce a stir.

While the sauce cooks, cook the noodles as directed on the box, however cook them just shy of the instructions for al dente. When done put them in a colander to drain and set aside.

While the pasta cooks, make the ricotta filling. Into a mixing bowl, add the ricotta cheese, the egg, parsley, oregano, dry basil, and half of the Parmesan cheese. Give that a good stir and set it aside.

Preheat the oven for 350 F.

Now the fun stuff, the layering. This will make three layers of noodles, layering and overlapping four sheets of noodles lengthwise, so divide or eyeball your ingredients accordingly. On the bottom of a deep 9×13 lasagna pan, add a nice big ladle of the sauce. Spread the sauce on the bottom of the pan to make a nice, even and light coating.

Add enough noodles to cover the bottom of the pan, slightly overlapping each sheet. Spread a nice, light coating of the ricotta cheese. Sprinkle some of the mozzarella cheese on top. Cover with more of the sauce.

Repeat with some more lasagna sheets. Add more ricotta, and add more shredded cheese. Add more sauce. Add more pasta sheets. Add more ricotta cheese. Add more sauce.

Top with the remaining shredded cheese to completely cover the top. Add some more grated Parmesan cheese.

Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with a bit of cooking spray then put it over your dish (sprayed side down).

Put the dish into the preheated oven and cook, covered for roughly 45-60 minutes. Once it’s done, remove the cover and either place the dish under the broiler for a couple of minutes to get the top layer of cheese nice and bubbly, or continue to cook in the oven, uncovered at 350 F for 5-10 minutes.

When the lasagna is finished cooking, remove it from the oven, and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Trust me, it will still be really hot, however the resting allows everything to come together instead of falling apart when you cut into it.

That’s the tough part. Once you are ready, cut a nice big square, and if you like it spicy, like me, sprinkle some red chili flakes on top.

I’m a corner piece kind of guy, so I always try to get that piece. The result is just amazing. You know what I am talking about. Layers of pasta surrounded by cheese and meat, with an awesome sauce. My mouth is watering now just thinking about it.

So that’s my lasagna recipe. What’s your favorite type of lasagna?