Best Lasagna Ever!

I’ve been off the grid lately, but I’m now back with a bang! And to kick things off I am sharing how to make lasagna. To be honest I have only heard of lasagna in movies and it seemed so exotic. I knew I could never make it in my mother’s house because I thought she would never approve but now in retrospect I don’t think she would have minded lol!

The first time I ate a lasagna was in an Italian restaurant and I think that’s when my love affair with pasta begun. But that being besides the point, my first lasagna was amazing. The way the pasta, ground beef and cheese came together was a wonderful marriage and ever since then I have been fantasizing about making my own lasagna.

Finally a long weekend presented itself and I decided to try it out. The recipe said 3 hours but I must have taken around 2 hours. Reason being I didn’t simmer my mince-meat tomato mixture long enough as a result even though my lasagna was tasty there was a slight tangy taste from the tomatoes which the simmering would have removed.

Anyhow check out this simple classic lasagna recipe. I used three cheeses but in my opinion all you need is Mozzarella cheese, the other cheeses are a nice addition. Also in the original recipe I used they mentioned Italian sausage which isn’t available locally so I just used normal sausage which also is a “nice to have.” I also used pasta sheets but once I had a lasagna where normal spaghetti was laid across the baking tray which I thought was really innovative. The surprising thing about this recipe was that the cheesy taste was not overwhelming the flavours married well together and achieved perfect balance. All in all Lasagna isn’t an expensive taxing affair but a real tasty labour of love.

My rookie lasagne, i had so much left over minced beef I just sprinkled it on the top with the parmesan cheese.

Serves 5

Ingredients
750grams mince meat

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 large grated tomatoes

3 teaspoons tomato paste

2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
6 Pasta sheets or 1 packet of spaghetti

12 lasagna noodles

1 egg (optional)

1/2 teaspoon salt

500grams mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method

-Fry onions and garlic in a tablespoon of oil. When the onions are translucent. Add the mince meat and cook until well cooked
-Stir in grated tomatoes, tomato paste and water. Season with sugar, basil, 1 tablespoon salt and pepper. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
-In a large saucepan in boiling water cook and salt for seasoning cook the Spaghetti/ Pasta Sheets for 8-10minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
-Preheat oven to 190 degrees C
-To assemble, spread ½ the meat sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Arrange 3 pasta sheets/ spaghetti lengthwise over the meat. Top with half the mozzarella cheese slices. Then spoon the other half of the meat mixture. Arrange remaining pasta sheets/spaghetti lengthwise then top with the remaining mozzarella. Finally sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese.
-Cover with foil ensuring it doesn’t touch the cheese. Bake for 25 minutes. Afterwards remove the foil and bake for another 25 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes then serve.