World's best lasagna

By á-72341

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cook time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Serves 12

Ingredients

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• Three -quarters pounds lean ground beef
• one half cup minced onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2 . 6 ounce can tomato paste
• two 6.5 ounce can tomato sauce
• One half cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 one half teaspoon dried basil
• 1 half teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 quarter teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 12 lasagna noodle
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• Half teaspoon salt
• 3 quarter pound mozzarella cheese sliced
• 3 quarter cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Step 1

in a Dutch oven cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about one and one half hours, stirring occasionally.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and half teaspoon salt.

To assemble red one and one half cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Bread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with one third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon one and one half cups meat sauce over mozzarella and sprinkle with 1 quarter cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.