I don’t spend as much time in the kitchen as I would like (perhaps I would if I had a larger, more open kitchen), but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few skills in the area. One thing I can make? Lasagna. It’s so good and so cheesy and so meaty and so perfect for chilly winter days. Total comfort food. Not for those watching their weight. And one more note: I usually spend about $70 on the ingredients, so it isn’t cheap either. And with all that out of the way, here we go…
Ingredients & Materials:
- 1 pack of lasagna noodles
- 1.5 jars of Prego meat flavored sauce (don’t judge)
- 2 lbs ground steak
- fresh garlic cloves
- 1 large container (48oz) of ricotta cheese (whole milk)
- 2 lbs fresh mozzarella (big salted balls, duh)
- 1 container freshly grated romano cheese
- 1 large sauce pan
- 1 large pot
- 1 extra deep lasagna pan
- spoons, strainers, garlic crusher, and all that jazz
What you do:
- Cook the ground steak in a large sauce pan until brown and drain the fat. Add in the Prego along with crushed or roasted (if you’re feeling extra ambitious) garlic, cover and let simmer.
- In a large pot, boil water and cook the noodles. I usually use about 12-15 noodles in my lasagna, but always cook a few extra in case a few rip (which is bound to happen).
- Prep your lasagna pan while the noodles are cooking by smearing the entire thing with a thin layer of butter or spray the hell out of it with Pam. Also pre-heat the oven to 400 (I think… might be 350, whatever).
- Pull out all of that delicious cheese and cut the fresh mozzarella balls into discs about 1/4 of an inch thick.
- Once the noodles are done (not too soft, but fully cooked), put down the first noodle layer on the bottom of the pan with the edges of the noodles just slightly overlaping.
- Add a generous layer of the meaty sauce.
- Layer on the ricotta cheese by simply scooping it out of the container.
- Next, add a layer of the fresh mozzarella slices and then a sprinkle of the romano cheese.
- Looks good, right? Now repeat… noodles, meat sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, romano.
- And repeat again. Noodles, meat sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, romano.
- Cover with a layer of tin foil and put into the oven for about 40 minutes. Mine always ends up super heavy so be aware of that as you transfer to the oven. I also leave a broiler pan or walled cookie sheet on the rack below in case the juice boils over (which mine does on occasion).
- Remove the foil and leave in the oven for another 20 minutes. At this point your house should be smelling good. Open the windows and watch the boys gather outside.
- When done, remove from oven and let sit for about 45 minutes before serving.
- Eat with garlic bread and a good glass of wine if you want to feel extra fancy. Enjoy!
Also, you can always freeze half of it if you don’t think you’ll finish it (lasagna is a terrible thing to waste).
