Anna Hezel - Lasagna: A Baked Pasta Cookbook

Say you wake up tomorrow morning to a polite knock on your door from a group of E.T.-looking alien fools, demanding the answer to one simple question about humanity: What is lasagna? Armed with this chapter, you could provide a pretty well-rounded answer.

In these first eight recipes, youll find the most foundational formulas of pasta, sauce, and cheese. There are lasagnas youll recognize from your grandmas kitchen, the ice-crusted box of Stouffers in the back of your freezer, or the charmingly dysfunctional red-sauce joint in your neighborhood.

Later in the book, well dig deeper into the world of baked pastas like elegant lasagna timpanos and new interpretations like crunchy life-changing deep-fried bricks of lasagna. But for now, lets start with the classics.

CLASSIC MEAT SAUCE & RICOTTA LASAGNA

This is the most essential, cartooniest lasagna in this bookdefinitely Garfield -approved. When they create a lasagna emoji (fingers crossed!), this will be the model: wavy noodles, fluffy ricotta, a sweet tomato sauce full of ground beef, and a lightly blistered layer of gooey mozzarella crowning the top. Classic and simple, this is the lasagna youll dig into over warm, raucous gatherings full of mismatched plates and spilled Chianti.

8 TO 12 SERVINGS

Meat Sauce

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

2 large garlic cloves, minced

12 ounces ( pound) extra-lean ground beef (96% lean)

4 tablespoons tomato paste

1 (28-ounce) can tomato puree

1 teaspoon sugar

teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled

teaspoon dried thyme

1 dried bay leaf

Coarse kosher salt (preferably Diamond Crystal) and freshly ground black pepper

Lasagna

2 pounds ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about cup)

1 pound low-moisture mozzarella cheese (not fresh), shredded (about 4 cups)

2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt (preferably Diamond Crystal)

teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 large egg, beaten

15 dry lasagna noodles, cooked and cooled (see )

1. Make the meat sauce: Heat the olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat until shimmering, about 2 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring gently, until the paste darkens slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomato puree, sugar, oregano, thyme, bay leaf, and 3 cups water. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil. Cover partially, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the sauce is thick and has reduced to about 6 cups, about 45 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reserve 4 cups of the sauce for the lasagna and keep the rest warm for serving. Discard the bay leaf.

2. Make the cheese mixture: Preheat the oven to 375F and position a rack in the center. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, parsley, cup of the Parmesan, two thirds (about 2 cups) of the mozzarella (reserve the remaining cheese for the top), the salt, and the pepper. Add the egg and stir to combine.

3. Assemble the lasagna: Spread 1 cup of the meat sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch (3-quart) glass or ceramic baking dish. Arrange 5 of the noodles, overlapping slightly, in the dish. Spoon half of the ricotta mixture onto the noodles, then use the back of the spoon or a butter knife to spread in an even layer. Top with 1 cup of the sauce, spreading evenly. Arrange another 5 noodles on top, followed by the remaining ricotta mixture and another 1 cup sauce. Arrange the remaining noodles on top and spread with an even layer of 1 cup sauce.

4. Bake the lasagna: Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan on top and bake until the top is browned, the noodles are crusty around the edges, and the sauce is bubbling, about 45 minutes. Remove the lasagna from the oven and set it aside to rest for 20 minutes before cutting into squares and serving. Serve the remaining sauce on the side.

LASAGNA WITH MEATBALLS & SUNDAY SAUCE

If you manage to make a batch of Sunday Sauce (), there is a definite chance that you will accidentally keep wandering into the kitchen in a sausage-scented daze, taking a taste here and there until the whole pot has somehow vanished. If your sauce survives its two-hour simmer, however, then youre going to want to make a pan of this lasagna. The sauce is meaty enough (from a combination of Italian sausage, meatballs, and pork shoulder) that it feels less like a sauce and more like a hearty, spicy three-course meal hiding under sheets of curly noodles and golden-brown Pecorino Romano cheese.