Recipe: Basic Lasagna Recipe

Basic Lasagna Recipe
(makes three small lasagnas)

4 cups of tomato or meat sauce, your choice
1 to 1 1/2 pounds lasagna noodles
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
32 oz. ricotta cheese
2 1/2 lb. Mozzarella cheese
A pinch of dried oregano, thyme, and basil
salt & pepper, to taste
Olive oil to coat the pans

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and if you are using standard lasagna noodles, bring a pot of water to boil to cook them.

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, parmesan cheese, and ricotta cheese and season with salt, pepper, and spices.

Lightly coat the bottom of each pan with oil. I like to use spray olive oil for this job) and then add a little sauce to coat the bottoms. This is especially important if you are using the no-boil noodles because the sauce will help them cook.

There are no hard and fast rules about the order you add ingredients, but it's basically adding a layer of pasta, some of the ricotta cheese mixture, more sauce, another layer of pasta, some mozzarella cheese, some more ricotta cheese mixture, more sauce and so on until you run out of ingredients. The ingredients will settle a little bit when you bake the lasagna so build right to the top. Make sure you finish with sauce and if you have any left over, save it for when you are serving.

Cover each pan with some aluminum foil and bake for about 35 to 45 minutes until the center of the lasagna is hot, the cheese is melted, the edges are crisp, and your kitchen smells heavenly. If you decide to eat the lasagna that day, make sure to let it sit for a least 15 minutes to let the flavors meld. Enjoy!