Lasagna & The Santa Parade

Instructions

A couple of things before I get into the recipe:

• I love using "no cook" noodles. I find these ones recommended in my Ingredients list are the best. They are so much easier than boiling noodles, waiting for them to cool and then assembling the lasagna. You can usually find these at an Italian grocery store (Longos, Coppas, Fortinos...)
• These canned tomatoes are great but if you can't find this exact brand, just make sure to buy San Marzano whole tomatoes, and then crush them with your hands to create a runny consistency before making the sauce.
• I combine both cheeses together before putting it on the lasagna - I find it helps the mozzarella become less sticky when the parmesan is incorporated and it is much easier to throw on.
• Lastly, I have always cooked my sauce separate from the ground meat. Trust me - try it!

1. Start with your sauce. Throw the cans into a large bowl and break up with your hands. Sauté half the onion and 2 garlic cloves in EVOO, and then throw the sauce in. Season with salt and pepper, 1 TSP italian seasoning, and let it come to a boil. Once it boils, turn down to medium low and let simmer for about 30 minutes. You don't want a very thick sauce because the noodles need to absorb it.
   
   2. In a separate frying pan, sauté half an onion and 2 garlic cloves in EVOO. Throw in the ground meat, salt/pepper, and 1 TSP of Italian Seasoning. Break it up and fry it up for about 10-12 minutes or until no longer pink.
   
   

   

   3. This isn't a required step but just a little tip to make your sauce a bit more flavourful. Once your meat is done cooking, grab a strainer and a large bowl and drain the meat through it. You'll notice that there is a ton of juice that comes from this. I add this juice to my sauce as it creates another depth of flavour. 
   4. Now, lay out all your ingredients in a spacious spot and begin to assemble the lasagna!

   

   

   

   

   5. My preferred order is sauce on the bottom of the dish to cover, noodles, sauce to cover noodles, ground meat, cheese, noodles, sauce, ground meat, cheese, and on and on... if it looks like there's a lot of sauce covering the noodles, that's because there is. The key to these noodles is that they need a lot of sauce to cook properly since they are raw going in. For the final layer, I only do noodles, sauce and cheese (no meat).

   

   

   

   6. Cover with aluminum (I like to spray the side that will hit the lasagna with cooking spray so it doesn't stick to the cheese), and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Take off the aluminum, bake for 10-15 minutes uncovered. Then, turn to broil, and broil it for 2-3 minutes - make sure you watch it at this stage. This will just slightly crisp the top and make it more delicious! Once done, I typically let it sit for 10-15 minutes to make sure when you cut it, it isn't watery. Here's what it looks like once it's done.

   

   

   

   And, finally, here are a few pics of us (trying) to be serious and get a pic with the food at the table... maybe we will have better luck next time?! AND, for the record, I asked my friend if I should take my clip out of my hair since I put it up while I was cooking and her exact response was "no, leave it, it looks cute". She's off the list for next year. 🙂