Mieke's Lasagna

I used to make lasagna regularly, it tastes good, it freezes well, and it's a great dish for lots of company, with a salad, perfect meal!

It starts with a good meaty boulognaise, (meat sauce), I also use lasagna noodles that cook in the oven, which means that your sauce needs to be loose, not watery but more saucy than you would use for spaghetti with meat sauce. The cheesy layer I usually use ricotta, but recently I used a dry cottage cheese, which I processed to sauce consistency with a bit of milk, turned out perfectly, but here you can add spinach to enrich your lasagna and hide a bit more vegetable goodness for those who don't like to eat plain veggies. This boulognaise recipe makes a lot, but it is for a double recipe of lasagna(I use my stainless steel roasting pan), if you don't want that much lasagna, freeze half of the sauce for a spaghetti dinner, and cut the cheese layer ingredients in half. Preheat Oven 350 degrees F, cooking time 1-1/2 hours.

Boulognaise

1-1/2 pounds lean ground meat
1 pound ground Italian sausage meat, (casing removed if using sausages)
2 yellow onions, chopped medium fine
1 medium carrot, shredded
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
4 garlic cloves, chopped fine
6 chopped fresh tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2-28 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1-28 ounce can ground tomatoes
Approx. 1 liter of water
2 beef boullion cubes
1/2 tablespoon each, dried basil, oregano, black pepper
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic powder

Brown the meat in a large 6-8 quart Dutch oven, when the meat has lost its pinkness, drain most of the fat, set meat aside, use 2 tablespoons of the drained fat to sauté onions, celery, carrot, when those are soft, add garlic when you can smell the garlic, add the chopped fresh tomatoes, and the tomato paste, sauté them for a couple of minutes, then add all of the canned tomatoes, with some water rinse the cans holding the tomatoes, at least a couple of cups to start, add the boullion cubes, bring all to a boil, add back the meat, add the dry seasoning, taste for salt, being careful not to add too much, add the granulated garlic, and hot pepper flakes, if using, stir well, turn heat down, simmer the sauce, checking for seasoning for about 40 minutes.

Cheese Layer
1 litre of ricotta
4 eggs, beaten
4 ounces of shredded Parmesan
6 ounces of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, squeezed dry
1/2 teaspoon salt, grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all ingredients together, set aside.

12-16 dry lasagna noodles
12-16 ounces shredded white cheese, I use a mixture of Romano,Asiago, mozzarella, white cheddar, but you can use just Romano and mozzerella.

Putting it all together:
Layer of sauce (without meat) covering the bottom of the baking dish, layer of noodles, lots of sauce then some shredded cheese, another layer of noodles, then using all of the Cheese mixture, spread evenly, another layer of noodles, lots of sauce and then shredded cheese, then another layer of noodles finish with lots of sauce, then bake in oven 350 degrees F for about an hour, check the tenderness of the noodles, add more sauce if needed, then add a layer of shredded cheese mixture, bake for another 20-30 minutes until all is bubbly and cheese on top becomes golden brown. Don't add the last shredded cheese layer for the first part of baking as it becomes too well done and rubbery. Enjoy!