Lasagne

This recipe is easy but time-consuming, a good dish for a rainy day. Make the sauce first and prepare the filling while the sauce is cooking. Use ground meat in the sauce only if you are in a hurry. Finely minced meat gives a much nicer texture.

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

Sauce:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced or crushed
1 medium onion, minced (about 1/2 cup)
1 lb. finely minced lean chuck or 1 lb. top round steak, ground
2 lbs. fresh tomatoes, chopped, and 1 cup water, or 1 can (2 lbs., 3 oz.) tomatoes, undrained
1 cup minced, flat Italian parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried oregano

Filling:
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, chopped, plus 1/4 cup butter, or 1 can (3 oz.) mushroom pieces cooked in butter
1 pint ricotta cheese
1/2 lb. cooked, drained, chopped spinach, or 1 package cooked, chopped, frozen spinach, well drained
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 lb. mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
1/2 freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb. Lasagne

Steps

Sauce:
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add meat and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add remaining ingredients and simmer, uncovered, over very low heat for 1-1/2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Filling:
Fry fresh mushrooms in butter until tender. Mix mushrooms and juices with the ricotta. Blend in the spinach, salt, and eggs.

Forty-five minutes before serving, preheat oven to 350° F. Parboil the lasagne and drain well. Cover bottom of a greased baking dish with a thin layer of sauce. Top with a layer of lasagne. Spread lasagne with a thin layer of ricotta filling, top with a layer of sliced mozzarella and a light sprinkling of Parmesan. Repeat procedure until all the lasagne are used, ending with a layer of sauce and a heavy sprinkling of Parmesan.

Bake, uncovered, in a preheated 350° F. oven for 30 minutes, or until bubbling and golden. Increase oven temperature for the last 5 minutes if you want a brown crust.