Just Call Me Stephie Homemaker...

So, one thing I LOVE to do is cook for other people.  So, as a thank you to our staff I invited them over for Lasagna (which happens to be the best in Terre Haute -- BTW).

Because I make the sauce from scratch I have to do it the night before.  Tomorrow is when they are coming over, but made it tonight.  I even took some lousy pictures along the way.  They are below. :)

Some of the Ingredients

The Veggie Layer (Onions, etc)

Red Pepper flakes, Garlic

Tomato Paste

Add Oregano and stir it all together... let it cook for a minute or so until you can smell the tomato paste

The Juice from 2 cans of diced tomatoes, scraping the bottom of the pan to get the brown bits up.

Still scraping the bottom and mixing together.

The Sauce base... at this point you can smell the yummy out on the front walk.  

This is ground chuck that I've processed with some bread crumbs, milk, salt and pepper. 

You want to cook it, but not brown it.. so it's more of a gentle simmer in the sauce base.  

I like to make a meat sauce and add sausage as layer to my lasagna -- I just think it tastes better. 

Sassy snuck up in this chair and is trying to get to the bowls in the sink that have hamburger residue on them... Didn't happen!

The meat all most cooked -- you want it to lose the pink, but not brown or caramelize. 

Here I added two cans (14.5 oz) of diced tomatoes and two cans (28oz) of crushed tomatoes.  If you want to use this as a good meat sauce for spaghetti, then just use one can of each, but for Lasagna I like the sauce a bit saucier. :)  

Let it simmer on LOW heat for about 30 minutes or so.. So everything can meld a bit..

 

Mmm Sausage.. I love sausage.. I usually use a sage sausage for this, but decided to spice it up a bit with an Italian... I'll let you know how it works out. 

Brown the sausage and drain as much grease as you can.  I like to put it on a plate lined with paper towel, then place paper towel on top and another plate and then put a heavy pot on it to soak as much into the towels as possible.  I'm weird.. I know. :)

Then Toss it in the food processor... this is kind of an important step so that you make sure it's all uniform and can evenly spread. 

This is perfect!!  Now it will kind of "Sprinkle" over each layer.

Now that your sauce has simmered for 30ish minutes, add 1/2 cup of Parmesan and another teaspoon or so of Oregano... 

Let it simmer a bit longer then taste it for salt and pepper.  If it needs it (It usually does) add more and let it cook for another five minutes or so before you taste it again... Remember you can always add more, but you can't take it out... Also, you want to start boiling your noodles. 

Now for the cheeses.. Some people use cottage cheese in their lasagna... NOT ME.  I like the texture and taste of Ricotta MUCH MUCH better.... 

To your Ricotta you want to add approx 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan and one egg.  Mix well. 

Prepare your pan.  I always use a disposable pan because they are cheap AND I don't have to wash them later. :)

Drain your noodles and toss them with a bit of Olive Oil so that they don't stick while you're layering your lasagna.

Set up your assembly station with everything right at hand.  Sauce, noodles, sausage, ricotta, and cheese... 

Start by putting a bit of sauce down in the bottom of the pan first. 

And spread it around evenly.

Begin your layers with noodles.

Then Ricotta

Then sprinkle sausage over the ricotta

Then Sauce it up... 

Then add a layer of Mozzarella

Then start over with noodles, ricotta, sausage, sauce and mozzarella

ricotta

sausage

Sauce.  I didn't get pictures, but put one more layer of noodles over this and cover it with the remainder of your sauce.  

Sauced!

This is the AWESOME secret -- pull out a log of FRESH Mozzarella... this is KEY because it adds a deliciousness you've not yet experienced..

Is deliciousness a word??

Who cares! :)

This is the up-to-now finished product.  It went in the refrigerator.  Tomorrow I'll pull it out, cover it with aluminum foil and bake it at 400 degrees until hot and bubbly.. then I'll remove the foil and cook it for an additional 10 minutes until it browns on top.. YUMMMM!!! 

And that's my lasagna... I didn't give away the secret ingredient that makes it mine!!  However, I adapted this recipe from one I saw on America's Test Kitchen.  That one is yummy as they post it too, but I like mine better. :)

I'll post the finished product later. :)

Note:  All pictures were taken with my cell phone.. not bad eh??