Natalia's Lasagna
”homemade lasagna is one of life's best comfort foods. This recipe is one that has the authentic italian taste your family and friends will love. All seasoning can be increased or lessened to your personal taste and preference. (the fennel seed in my opinion gives a wonderfully authentic taste and some add a pinch of nutmeg to the cottage cheese-if you prefer ricotta cheese this can also be used instead of cottage cheese). I have salt-sensitive members in my family so i buy no-salt tomato sauce as the crushed tomatoes and paste are usually not over-salted (all tomato products are available in no-salt versions if you need to decrease your intake of sodium-the cheeses usually have enough salt as well) i also set the parsley and parmesan cheese on the table for my family to add that last bit of seasoning before enjoying--delizioso!! For best results, prepare one day ahead of baking.
Steps
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Generously oil a 9x13 baking dish.
Use a dutch oven to cook the sausage , ground beef , onions and garlic until the meat is browned.
Once the meat is browned add the crushed tomatoes , paste , sauce along with all the seasonings except the sugar and 1 tablespoon of parsley.
Add the sugar one tablespoon at at time and at this point taste the sauce to see if the sugar is to your liking and not too sweet.
Simmer the sauce for about 45 minutes or long enough for all seasonings to combine well.
While the sauce is simmering , in a small mixing bowl beat the egg with the cottage cheese and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley.
Noodles can be rinsed with hot water just until softened or cook noodles according to package directions-rinse with cool water and drain well.
Layer the lasagna as follows: bottom layer meat sauce , 6 noodles , 1 / 2 cottage cheese mixture , 1 / 2 mozzarella cheese , meat sauce and 1 / 2 parmesan cheese.
Second set of lay.
Ingredients
italian sausage, lean ground beef, onion, garlic cloves, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, granulated sugar, dried basil leaves, fennel seed, italian seasoning, oregano, ground black pepper, parsley, lasagna noodles, small curd cottage cheese, egg, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese