Classic Beef Lasagna
Classic Beef Lasagna
One of my cooking goals for this year is to learn to make more traditional Italian dishes. Lasagna is an obvious choice and with all of us having so much more time on our hands to cook it was a great time to give it a try. I’ve made a pumpkin ricotta lasagna before so I wasn’t too intimidated, but I also found a recipe source with lots of good tips I’ll include in here. This beef lasagna is extra cheesy and I think for most people that makes it extra delicious.
Top: how to keep your lasagna noodles in between cooking and assembling. As you can see I made the entire box of noodles and had to toss quite a few. You only need 9!
Below: the layering process continues.
Top: the mozzarella layer. Slicing mozzarella is hard, but it doesn’t matter if your slices are uneven and wonky like mine because it all melts in the end.
Below: the top layer before going into the oven.
INGREDIENTS
9 lasagna noodles
2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 kg. (2 lbs.) ground beef*
2 tsp. chopped garlic
1 tsp. dried oregano
Salt and pepper
2 946 ml (32 oz.) jars of marinara sauce
475 g (16 oz.) whole milk ricotta
1/2 cup Parmesan, divided
1 egg
750 g (26 oz.) mozzarella
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped (plus more for garnish)
YIELD
10 servings
TIME
Prep - 45 minutes
Cook - 35 minutes
TOOLS
9” x 13” casserole dish
Large pot (dutch oven)
Baking sheet
Large skillet
Medium bowl
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375°F. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add salt.
Slice mozzarella into thin slices, less than 1/4 inch thick if possible. Set aside.
Cook pasta according to package directions minus 2 minutes. Drain and lay out on a baking sheet with olive oil drizzled in between to prevent noodles from sticking together.
In a large, deep skillet cook beef over medium-high heat. Break up with a wooden spoon, cooking until no longer pink. Remove from heat and drain as much of the fat as you can.
Return the skillet with the beef still in it to heat. Add garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, cook and stir for 1 minute.
Add marinara sauce to the skillet, cook and stir for a few minutes until heated through. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a medium bowl combine ricotta, 1/4 cup Parmesan, fresh basil, and egg. Season with salt and pepper.
Assemble the lasagna:
First spread a quarter of the meat sauce across the bottom of the dish.
Top with a single layer of lasagna noodles and a layer of ricotta mixture, spreading evenly.
Add a layer of sliced mozzarella.
Cover with meat sauce, a layer of lasagna noodles and a layer of ricotta mixture.
Top with a final layer of lasagna noodles and meat sauce.
Sprinkle Parmesan on top and lay slices of mozzarella on top.**
Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 400°F. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 15 minutes to cool and set. Garnish with fresh basil, slice and serve!
ADAPTATIONS
*For a healthier version, use 1 lb. ground beef and 1 lb. ground turkey. I would have done that but the grocery store was out of ground turkey and these days you got to use whatever is available.
**If too much cheese doesn’t sit well with your stomach you can skip this layer to only have one layer of sliced mozzarella in the lasagna. There’s still plenty of cheese if you do this!
TIPS
Lasagna noodles: it’s important to keep them al dente to prevent soggy noodles. They will continue to cook in the oven so remove from heat and drain 2 minutes before the cooking time on the package.
Noodles will often stick together as they cool while you are cooking the sauce. Lay them out on a large baking sheet with olive oil drizzled in between to prevent that.
Draining the beef after cooking helps prevent your lasagna from being too greasy!
Cover when you first put it in the cover to prevent the noodles from drying out too much. Remove the foil for the last part of baking to get that nice browned top.
If it looks too messy when you take it out of the oven the first time, allow it to rest. Lasagna will firm up as it cools down.
