All Team Recipes continued...

Matt's Kind of Hard Lasagna
This recipe is so long, I decided to give it it's own space...if you tasted the finished dish at the meeting you know it's worth the effort!

sauce:
roughly, 3 cans (32 ounce) stewed tomatoes
1 large yellow onion diced
1 full head of garlic minced
1 bunch flat leaf (italian) parsley chopped
1/2 bunch basil chopped
1/2 bunch oregano chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 pound sweet italian sausage
1/2 - 1 cup marsala wine

start with a tablespoon of oil in a large stock pot, heated over medium heat. add the garlic and onion sauté until soft. add meats and stir until lightly browned, be sure to break up meat as you go. add tomatoes and lower heat to simmer. allow to simmer for about 1 hour stirring often. add herbs, wine and freshly ground pepper and allow to simmer for another hour. stir occasionally, add salt to taste. allow sauce to cool (this allows the flavors to meld).

cheese blend:
16 ounces mozzarella cheese shredded
1 cup of ricotta cheese
2 ounces parmesan
2 eggs
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley chopped fine
1/2 bunch oregano chopped fine
1/4 bunch basil chopped fine

mix cheeses with eggs. stir in herbs, freshly ground black pepper.

lasagna:
1 package of lasagna noodles
sauce
cheese blend
1/2 bunch basil whole leaf

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

boil noodles if using uncooked noodles. if using ready to bake noodles skip this step. use a 9 x 13 inch pan and spread thin layer of sauce across the bottom. layer 3 or 4 noodles across the bottom to cover pan. spread about 1/3 of cheese mix over noodles. layer meat sauce over top of cheese. follow with another layer of noodles. repeat with cheese blend and sauce. add one more layer of each. before last layer of noodles add a layer of whole leaf basil across the top of sauce. place last set of noodles on top. finish with sauce over noodles. on the very top add about 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella and a few ounces of parmesan.

wrap pan with foil and place in oven at 350 degrees. allow to cook for about 45 minutes, until lasagna starts to bubble. remove foil and allow to brown the top of cheese, about 10-15 more minutes. allow to cool for 10 minutes. serve with extra sauce in a bowl to place over top of individual pieces.