I don’t make lasagna very often — in fact, I’ve only made it a few times, ever, and the last time was probably before I even met Toby. But when Toby asked me to make dinner for one of his Marines and his wife (because the wife is pregnant and on bed rest), I thought lasagna would be perfect.

 

The reason I usually don’t make or like lasagna is because I’m not big on meat, but I figured that most normal people like a lot of protein with their pasta — so I loaded this up with beef and sweet Italian sausage.

Make sure you set aside a good chunk of time to make this — it’s not difficult, but it does take quite a while to make the sauce, assemble the lasagna and cook it.

 

The good news is that the finished product serves about a million people. I made two full pans (which doesn’t take much longer than making one) — one for us and one for Toby’s Marine — but I probably should have just made two small pans worth. You can always freeze some or all of it, too.

 

You’ll need a deep baking dish or lasagna pan for this — you’re going to be loading it up with lots and lots of meat and cheese. You can buy a disposable aluminum one one at the grocery store if you don’t have a regular dish big enough.

Your lasagna will look a little prettier if you don’t use pre-grated cheese. But it shouldn’t affect the taste either way.

Toby, the Marine and his wife, and some other friends I gave some to all really liked it. I hope you will, too!

Meaty lasagna (Serves 8-12, adapted from Bon Appetit)
Sauce
1 medium onion
whole carrots (enough for 3/4 cup chopped or grated)
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef
6 ounces sweet (or spicy) Italian sausages
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree
3 ounces (half a small can) tomato paste + 1 cup water
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
Lasagna
Lasagna noodles (I used less than one box of no-boil noodles, you’ll probably need 15 noodles total)
30 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese (two regular packages or one large package)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed (I forgot to buy frozen spinach, so I used a bag of fresh spinach, chopped and sautéed)
2 large eggs
4 3/4 cups grated mozzarella cheese (about 1 1/4 pounds)

For sauce: Chop the onion, peel and chop (or grate) the carrots, and cut the garlic into little pieces. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy saucepan or pot over medium heat, then add the chopped carrots and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, then add the garlic and continue cooking a few more minutes — until everything is softened and a bit browned.

Remove the casings from the sausages and add that meat and the ground beef to the pot. Break the meat up with a spoon as you cook it until browned. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar and spices and stir. Cover the pot and allow to cook on low heat for at least 15 minutes, uncovering to stir occasionally. Remove the sauce from the heat and remove the bay leaf.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cook the noodles (if not using fresh or no-boil noodles) until almost tender, then drain and cover with cold water.

Stir the ricotta and 3/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Drain and squeeze the spinach dry, then chop it roughly and stir it into the ricotta mixture. Add the eggs and some pepper to taste.

If using regular noodles, drain them and pat them dry.

Spread about 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 13×9-inch deep baking dish, then cover with noodles, overlapping if necessary, so the noodles cover the whole pan. Spread about half of the ricotta-spinach mixture over the noodles and sprinkle about 2 cups of grated mozzarella over that evenly. Spoon about 1 1/2 cups sauce evenly over the cheese (the cheese should be covered. Repeat with more noodles, the rest of ricotta-spinach mixture, 2 cups mozzarella and 1/2 cups of sauce.

Arrange more noodles over the top of the sauce, then cover those noodles with the rest of the sauce, more mozzarella cheese and the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and keep baking until the cheese on top is melted and browned and the sauce is bubbly, about 40 more minutes. Allow to sit at room temperature about 15 minutes before cutting and serving.