National Lasagna Day! Mangia!

I LOVE LASAGNA!

Growing up with an Italian mom, I was supremely blessed! Not only was she a loving mother, but she was a great cook!  Every year, for my birthday, she'd ask me what I wanted to eat. The answer was always, LASAGNA!

I loved my mother's lasagna. She made the lasagna with little meatballs and sweet Italian sausage. The meatballs were about the size of a large black olive and always fried in her cast iron frying pan. I got to help (and taste, which is why I helped!) make the meatballs and the tomato sauce. She did most of the work, but I watched and learned and helped as much as I could.

The noodles were Ronzoni. It was "our" brand. She used no other brand of macaroni, ever! She boiled the lasagna noodles. There were no "no boil" noodles at the time. Now Barilla has no boil noodles that work great or you can make your own, which is easy enough.

Lasagna is a process. There are a few things going on at the same time. I was asked to share my recipe, so here goes. Hang in there. It may look long, but, in the end, it will be worth it!

Ingredients

For the tomato sauce (gravy):

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Garlic

Tomatoes - 3 28oz cans of San Marzano tomatoes

Tomato Paste - 1 small can (I use whatever is on sale, but mostly I reach for Cento)

For the meatballs:

1lb ground chuck (80/20)

1 large egg

1 slice bread

Milk (to soak bread), as necessary

1-2 TBS chopped Fresh parsley

1/4 C grated Pecorino Romano cheese (I use Locatelli brand)

5 cloves garlic - minced

Salt

Pepper

The rest:

2 boxes no boil lasagna noodles - I use Barilla

1lb sweet Italian sausage

2lbs - ricotta - I use Polly-O or Sorrento (Galbani)

1lb mozzarella grated - I use Polly-O or Sorrento (Galbani) whole milk

Pecorino Romano cheese - I use Locatelli brand

La Ricetta

Make the Meatballs/Brown the Sausage

1. You can make little meatballs, like my mother did, or make "regular" size meatballs and cut them in quarters or slice them.
2. Squeeze out the milk from the bread and then, in a bowl, combine the bread with all the meatball ingredients. Do not work the meat too much. Just until it's all combined.
3. To see if it needs something, take a small amount and fry it up in a small pan and taste. Add what you think it needs, then form the meatballs.
4. With the stove on medium high heat, in a skillet or cast iron fry pan, add 1/4-inch of extra virgin olive oil (at least enough to cover the bottom).
5. Once the oil is hot enough (you'll see it "shimmering" or moving around), start adding the meatballs. Move them around until they have a nice crust on all sides, then, using a slotted spoon, remove them to a bowl. Continue until all the meatballs are made. They do not have to be cooked through. They will finish in the tomatoes.
6. In the same pan, add the sausage and brown on all sides. Remove to the same bowl as they are done. They DO NOT have to be cooked through. They will cook the rest of the way in the tomato sauce (gravy).

Make the Sauce (Gravy)

1. Using a pot large enough to hold all the meat and tomatoes (I use an 8QT enameled cast iron pot), heat the pot on medium high heat.
2. Once heated, add at least 2TBS extra virgin olive oil (I like to just cover the bottom of the pot) and heat the oil, then add the garlic. Cook the garlic for 30 seconds to 1 minute until you can smell the aroma and the garlic just turns golden.
3. Add the tomato paste, stir and fry it for 2 minutes.
4. Crush the canned tomatoes before adding them. You can do that in a bowl using the best crusher you have, your hand! Once crushed, add the tomatoes to the pot and turn heat up to high.
5. Add meatballs and sausage to tomatoes and stir.
6. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to low, partially cover and simmer for 30 minutes, minimum and up to 2 hours.
7. Once the sauce (gravy) is done, turn off the heat and let it rest.
8. Then, move the pot to your work area, if you like. Make sure to use a trivet.
9. Take out a cutting board and using tongs (meat is HOT be careful!), slice sausage and, if making "regular" size meatballs, cut up meatballs (into quarters is good) and return to sauce (gravy) pot.

Assembling the Lasagna

If cooking right away, heat oven to 375 degrees (F). Ensure there's a rack in the middle of the oven.

1. In your favorite lasagna pan (I often just use an aluminum pan), put a layer of sauce (gravy) on the bottom (to prevent sticking). Leave the meat out. Just put tomatoes.
2. Fitting the noodles however you like, put down a layer of lasagna noodles. You can break them to fit better, if you need to. Overlapping is not necessary.
3. Put a layer of sauce (gravy) on the noodles making sure to distribute the meat evenly around (make sure to get meatball and sausage). Don't put too much down because, remember it will be cumulative and you don't want it to be too soupy. Use your judgment.
4. Sprinkle some grated Pecorino Romano.
5. Using a tablespoon, put scoops of ricotta down spacing them evenly around. Alternately, you can spread the ricotta in a layer over the sauce (gravy).
6. Sprinkle a small amount of grated mozzarella over the layer and then repeat the process until you have at least two layers or the pan is full (whichever is more).
7. Once you get to the top layer, put sauce (gravy) on top of the top layer of noodles. This time you can include the meat. 
8. Sprinkle the remaining grated mozzarella on top.
9. Sprinkle Pecorino Romano on top of the mozzarella.
10. Cover with wax paper and aluminum foil. Make sure to "tent" the cover.
11. Place lasagna pan on a rimmed cookie sheet (this helps if there is a spill over) and place in oven on center rack and bake for 45 minutes. If you've made and assembled the lasagna a day or two before cooking it, remove it from the refrigerator at least an hour before baking to bring it up close to room temperature. If refrigerated, bake initially for at least 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes before removing the cover in step 12.
12. Remove cover and let bake another 15 minutes or until top is nice and brown and the lasagna is bubbly.
13. Using your favorite pot holder/oven mitt, remove the lasagna from the oven and let it rest. You have permission to break off any munchy crunchy edge to test it out!

While the Lasagna is Resting

You will certainly have sauce (gravy) left, so heat it up and serve some in a bowl in case someone wants extra.

Make a nice salad. My mother loved to make salad with bitter greens like chicory and just dress it simply with olive oil (we never used extra virgin, but you should!) and red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Make some easy garlic bread! Slice a loaf of Italian bread in half and place on a cookie sheet and toast under the broiler. In a small sauce pan, heat some olive oil, butter and two or three cloves of minced garlic until fragrant with the garlic. Once the bread is toasted, remove and, using an ovenproof brush, brush olive oil/butter/garlic mixture generously on the bread. Slice and serve!

Enjoy!

What's great about lasagna is you can make it your own, however you and your family like it. You can leave the meat out altogether. You can add vegetables, if that's what you like. It is a process, but, when your family is sitting down and you hear all those yummy sounds, it will make all that work sooooo worth it!

Any questions?  Let me know!

Mangiare bene!