Ooh la lasagna

I thought about lasagna all summer, but it's not really a warm weather dish. I've got news for you: this is lasagna weather here in DC. The “Super Committee” of our household (Peter and yours truly) determined that now was the time. I did not follow a recipe. If you know my cooking at all, you know I work by the seat of my pants (and it's hard to get that tomato sauce out of your jeans). Some folks like to use Italian sausage. I do too. But in this case I found a 1 lb package of 80/20 ground beef at Safeway on sale. An aside: I do not buy ground beef if I am making burgers; the ecoli problem is rare but real, and I like my burgers on the rare side. Here it comes.

Ooh la lasagna
1 Tbs olive oil
1 lb ground beef (fat content is your choice)
1 medium onion chopped fairly fine
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
28 oz crushed tomatoes
15 oz tomato sauce
2 heaping Tbs tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 box no boil lasagna noodles
15 oz ricotta (I used whole milk)
1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup grated parmesan

Large saute pan. Olive oil. Start browning the beef. Add onion and garlic. When beef is brown, add tomatoes and paste, seasonings.

Simmer sauce 30 minutes and then allow to cool. Layer in 13 by 9 inch casserole: sauce, noodles, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses. Repeat til everything has been included. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 50 minutes (we have a convection oven – regular oven might be 60 minutes). Remove foil. Add parmesan. Bake another 10 minutes. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before slicing to serve.