Well, today I'm posting before eating....but since dinner is already made I know what we are having! We just came back from a fabulous weekend outside Chattanooga on Signal Mountain. My mother's grandparents built a house in 1912 and it is kept up by my Mom and her two sisters. It is where I spent most of the summers in my childhood and holds a special place for everyone in the family. We had all of my brothers and sisters in addition to all the grandkids and one great-grandchild there with Mom. Needless to say it was awesome, Mom loved it and we all had a blast. However, feeding 20 people at every meal can be a challenge...my sister, Mom and I planned all the meals and if I can brag, we did excellent. Friday night was Lasagna. If you like Lasagna, this is a great recipe, courtesy of our friend (and Mom to my nephew in law) Rorie Fore. It's called Petrucci's Lasagna, but since I don't know Petrucci, I'll give credit to Rorie!
A note or two about making Lasagna...all the recipes look time consuming, but they usually are not. You can multi-task (i.e. mixing up the cheese while the meat is browning etc). This recipe calls for cooking the sauce for 1 hour - so it is a sauce that you make on the weekend or while you are eating your dinner. We doubled the sauce with the crowd we had and make two pans of Lasagna with a large bag of meat sauce left over for spaghetti one night. If your family is 4-6 people, you can easily get 2 meals out of one pan...so by doubling it we are getting 6 meals (2 each on the lasagna and 2 from the spaghetti sauce). So, for 6 meals it is well worth the time. It will last in your freezer for months. Another note....if you have a "juicy" sauce like this one - skip the step of boiling the noodles...honestly it works fine just putting them in hard and cooking it...as a matter of fact, if you like your pasta "al dente" this is the only way to do it! No, you don't need to search for the "no cook" noodles...standard lasagne noodles work just fine...I promise! A final word if you are REALLY pressed for time..yes, you can skip the whole sauce process and just use a jar (or two) of sauce...but I really do think it is worth the step....
Petrucci's Lasagna
Brown 1lb ground beef and 1lb Italian sausage with 1 chopped onion and 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic.
Drain and add : 2 large cans whole tomatoes, 2 8oz cans tomato sauce, 2 6oz cans tomato paste, 4 bay leaves, and 1tbs Italian seasoning, several shakes of red pepper flakes.
Add 1/2 cup red wine (or more) . Simmer for about an hour.
Filling: 1 pint ricotta cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup chopped parsley.
Cheese: Large package of sliced mozzarella, or large block grated
Boil 1 box lasagna noodles for 5-6 minutes. The more al dente the easier to handle. (or skip this step and it will work fine)
Spread a small amount of the sauce in the bottom of a 9-13 inch baking dish.
Layer noodles, cheese filling, sauce, mozzarella cheese slices, and repeat ending with sauce and mozzarella on top.
Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until bubbly.
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I can attest that the sauce freezes perfectly and makes for a wonderful leftover spaghetti sauce! It was delish, thanks Aunt F and Mom!
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