Carols Lasagna Recipes

Steps:

• 1. Put on a pot of water to boil for the lasagna noodles. It's OK if they get done before the sauce since the whole dish will heat up in the oven.
• 2. Brown the ground chuck, onion, garlic and green pepper together. (If you're using fresh mushrooms, add them now, instead of Step #9.) Drain well.
• 3. Add oregano, garlic salt, salt and tomato sauce to the browned meat mixture. (Add the canned mushroom LIQUID now, if used. Save the canned mushrooms until step #9.) Cook over low-medium heat until thickened, stirring often, about 30-40 minutes. (If you like your lasagna "saucier," cook only about 20 minutes.)
• 4. While cooking the sauce, cook the lasagna noodles, with the oil, in the boiling water until almost tender. Drain the noodles.
• 5. Mix the cheeses together in a bowl.
• 6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease (or mist with cooking spray) a 13 x 9 baking dish.
• 7. When everything is done, layer the ingredients as follows: a little meat sauce...
• 8. ...lasagna noodles...
• 9. ...meat sauce... (Add some canned mushrooms with this layer, if you're using them.)
• 10. ...1/3 of the mozzarella & swiss cheeses...
• 11. ...more meat sauce.
• 12. Add a second layer of pasta, more meat sauce, more canned mushrooms (if using), cheeses, and another layer of meat sauce.
• 13. Final layer is pasta, rest of the meat sauce, last of the canned mushrooms, and finally, the rest of the cheeses.
• 14. Bake at 350 degrees F until the cheese melts & browns just a little, about 25 minutes. Watch closely to avoid overbaking.
• 15. Serve with your favorite salad & garlic bread.

Steps:

• Make the sauce: Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add sausage, if using, and cook, stirring occasionally, until it's starting to brown but not yet crisp, about 5 minutes.
• Add onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is totally softened and translucent (without letting it brown), 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and continue to cook, stirring until the tomato paste has turned a deeper brick red color, tinting the oil and onions a fiery orange color, about 2 minutes.
• Using your hands, crush the whole tomatoes into smaller, bite-size pieces and add them and the crushed tomatoes, stirring to scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pot. Fill one of the tomato cans halfway with water and add it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato sauce has thickened and flavors have come together, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Make the lasagna: Heat oven to 375 degrees and set a large pot of salted water to boil.
• Set aside 1 cup mozzarella. In a medium bowl, combine remaining mozzarella, ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan and cream; season with salt and pepper and set aside.
• Cook lasagna noodles in the large pot of salted boiling water until just softened (before they are even aldente), about 4 minutes. Drain and separate any noodles that are trying to stick together, slicking them with a bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking further.
• Spoon a bit of sauce on the bottom of a 3-quart baking dish and top with a layer of noodles, avoiding any heavy overlap.
• Top with about 1 ¼ cups of sauce, and dollop ¼ of the cheese mixture over. Top with another layer of noodles and repeat three more times, ending with the last of the noodles (depending on size of the noodle/shape of the baking dish, you may have a few extra noodles) and the last of the sauce. Top with reserved 1 cup mozzarella and more Parmesan, if you like.
• Cover loosely with aluminum foil and place baking dish on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet (to prevent any overflow from burning on the bottom of your oven).
• Bake until pasta is completely tender and cooked through and sauce is bubbling up around the edges, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove foil and increase temperature to 450 degrees. Continue to bake until lasagna is golden brown on top with frilly, crispy edges and corners, another 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly before eating.