Most loved dish, " Lasagna "

2009-05-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

Ingredients;

(1) box of lasagna noddles (when buying noodles shake box for sound of broken noodles)

(1) tall can of tomato sauce (Hunts in a can or Italian style in a jar)

(1) pound of hamburger

(1) 6 pack of hot or sweet sausage

(1) quart of ricotta cheese

(1) tall bag of "low moisture" shredded mozzarella cheese

(1) table spoon of pure cane sugar

dashes of garlic salt

dashes of Italian seasoning

sprinkles of grated Romano cheese

splashes of olive oil

" Cooking Directions "

First I lay out all my ingredients to make sure nothing is missing. The last thing you need to happen is have something missing while your cooking. Everything is made with timing and a tender loving care ( my secret ).

{ step 1} Open a can (or jar) of tomato sauce, my favorite (garlic and cheese) or (basil and garlic), pour into a (medium size) pan, then fill empty can half way with water, also pour in pan.

{ step 2} Get the garlic salt season to taste (I do a zig zag pour), pour in a quarter cup of olive oil, couple of shakes of Italian seasoning. I sometimes substitute seasoning with oregano. Put in a tablespoon of sugar. The sugar (or celery) takes some of the antacidy out. Now cover pan, turn on stove to low/medium flame or heat, simmer to boil, set flame lowest or warm.

{step 3} Get a medium size frying pan, fill quarters way, enough water to boil and brown sausage. Turn stove on medium flame (or heat). Skin sausage before putting in water, (I twist the end and squeeze sausage out of the skin). When sausage is done, pour in strainer and let drip till most of liquid is out (but not all of it, avoid being too dry).

{step 4} get the same frying pan, put all the hamburg in, flatten out evenly (to avoid lumps and under cooking areas). Turn stove on medium flame (or heat), cover pan to avoid splashing grease and minimize clean up. When all browned, take sausage out of strainer and pour in pan with hamburger (don't drain grease yet). Mix hamburger/sausage, chop out lumps. Now pour in strainer and let drip.

{step 5} Time to boil water for the lasagna noodles; Get a deep pan fill half way with water, bring to boil. before putting noodles in water, put some olive oil in, this will keep noodles separated. drop in noodles and cook till soft (not too soft, ardente'), it will cook more when baking. When soft, drain water out and fill back up (half way) with cold water, this will prevent noodles from sticking while waiting to blend other ingredients (keep noodles in water).

{step 6} get a lasagna pan (metal or glass), take some sauce and spread a thin layer evenly in the pan. Depending on size of pan, lay in lasagna noodles in three/four rows.

{step 7} spread generously hamburger/sausage evenly over noodles

{step 8} Open up container of ricotta cheese, scoop up a generous table spoon of cheese. (too much will make it watery) Plop on noodles every 2/3 inches apart. Don't mash in, when baking it will melt and spread. A helpful hint to avoid cheese sticking to spoon, dip spoon in cold water every two scoops.

{step 9} open bag of shredded mozzarella cheese, grab a handful and sprinkle (evenly) over all, (too much will make it chewy).

{step 10} sprinkle some grated Romano cheese over all (not too much, will suck up juices).

{step 11} Take the same amount of noodles as first set, lay on top of all, (starting with middle first). With your fingers press on noodles to flatten high spots and make even across all.

{step 12} take a ladle of sauce spread across noodles, (After I pour sauce on, I use my fingers to spread over all noodles especially ends and corners) This will avoid noodles turning crunchy while baking.

{step13} Now repeat steps 5 through 11, depending on how deep the pan, 3 to 4 layers high.

{Final step} sprinkle thin amount of grated cheese and shredded mozzarella over top for for presentation (appearance).

Note; everyone has their own style and tastes, this is mine, enjoy and pass it on, if you have any recipes you want to share feel free to e-mail me jwantonizio@aol.com.

Coming soon ;

lentels n pasta

personal sauce (gravy)

macroni and broccoli

cream of mushroom delight

pastene n egg (great energy/breakfast dish)

My Recipes, secrets revealed!!

Most loved dish, " Lasagna "