Lasagna: My Way

When I make lasagna, I don't like really thick noodles or creamy cheeses. I think lasagna is all about the meat sauce, fresh noodles, great cheese and keeping it relatively simple. Including noodles from scratch, you can actually make this meal in about an hour and it puts anything from the freezer to shame! You can also make this meal with beef, chicken or ground turkey (I used half dark chicken and half dark turkey).

The Recipe: Lasagna, My Way

Meat Sauce:
3 pounds of ground meat
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
5 shallots diced (about 1 cup diced)
3 cloves of garlic minced
10 medium button mushrooms diced
5 medium tomatoes diced (Roma are the meatiest and add the most flavour, although I use whatever is organic and available)
1/4 cup of tomato paste
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
3 tbsp fresh chopped basil
3 tbsp fresh chopped oregano
1 tsp fresh ground pepper

Homemade Pasta
12 ounces grated mozzarella
6 ounces of grated medium or old cheddar
3 ounces of parmesan grated

Heat a large pan to medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the ground meat and brown. This will a take a few minutes. Ensure that you stir consistently to brown all the meat evenly. Remove the meat and strain the liquid back into the pan. Return to heat and add the shallots, continue cooking for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and continue cooking for 5 minutes until the mushrooms have reduced significantly. Add the tomatoes and cook for another five minutes, reducing the heat to medium and stirring frequently. Add the herbs, pepper, Worcestershire, salt, tomato paste and meat. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes. Lower the heat while preparing the pasta. I like to roll my pasta to the 3rd smallest setting on my pasta machine, and cut the sheets to the same length as the casserole dish I will be using. Check out the recipe here.
In a large casserole dish, add about half the meat sauce and cover with one layer of fresh pasta. Since the pasta is quite thin and fresh, I do not precook the noodles as the moisture from the meat sauce does a great job. Add half the cheddar and mozzarella evenly on top of the noodles. Add another layer of noodles, followed by the rest of the meat sauce and another layer of noodles. Finish with the remaining cheese, including the Parmesan. Place in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Turn the broiler on for about 3-5 minutes or until the top layer of cheese starts to bubble, but not burnt. Remove from oven and Enjoy!