How’s everyone’s week going so far? Did you survive the candy coma on Monday? Did you see that baseball game yesterday? What a week so far, and it’s only Wednesday!
Week 2 of our focus on the wonderful world of pasta brings us to my favorite dish of all time, lasagna. I cannot even tell you how many pans of lasagna I’ve consumed in my life, but it’s A. LOT. I’ve been making lasagna for as long as I can remember. I learned how at a very young age and was always excited every time I got to make it. Mostly, because I knew in about an hour I would be feasting on all the meaty, cheesy goodness. To be honest, I don’t think you can make a bad lasagna. But, this is also coming from a Garfield-like lasagna freak 😉
My recipe has changed over time, but the excitement I get while preparing it has not. This is our favorite recipe for a hearty and delicious Meat Lasagna using fresh pasta.
Add the sausage, ground beef, garlic and salt to a pan over medium-high heat. Break up with a wooden spoon and cook until meat is browned, about 8-10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a medium bowl. Add the marinara sauce into the bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
Add ricotta, cream cheese and parmesan to a large zip top bag.
Mix together with your hands. It’s important for the cream cheese to be at room temperature so this is easily mixed. Snip off the tip of one of the corners. We’re going to use this as a piping bag for neat distribution of our delicious cheese mixture 🙂
Using the Fresh Pasta we made last week, cut the sheets into strips that will fit in your lasagna pan. This doesn’t have to be precise. Also, if you don’t have a pastry wheel, you can always use a pizza cutter.
Set the cut strips on a sheet pan lined with parchment, lightly dusted with flour. Once the pan is filled, lay another piece of parchment paper on top and start another layer of lasagna sheets.
Arrange a single layer of the lasagna sheets at the bottom of your baking dish. If you’re not using fresh pasta, you can always use the no boil packages that you can pick up at the grocery store.
Cover with 1/2 of the meat and sauce mixture.
Then, pipe on 1/2 of our cheese mixture.
Grab some fresh basil.
Tear it and sprinkle over the top.
Repeat the layers and top with mozzarella cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes until the top is nice and golden brown.
Let it sit for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
This dish freezes VERY well and tastes just as good as the day you made it 🙂
Have a wonderful week and enjoy!
XO, Sarah
- 8 ounces Italian sausage links, removed from casings
- 8 ounces ground beef
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 cups marinara sauce (I use Rao's)
- 8 ounces ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 8 Fresh or no-boil lasagna sheets
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add the sausage, ground beef, garlic and salt to a pan over medium-high heat. Cook until meat is browned, about 8-10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a medium bowl. Add the marinara sauce into the bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
- Add ricotta, cream cheese and parmesan to a large zip top bag. Mix together with your hands. It's important for the cream cheese to be at room temperature so this is easily mixed. Snip off the tip of one of the corners. We're going to use this as a piping bag for neat distribution of our delicious cheese mixture.
- Arrange a single layer of the lasagna sheets at the bottom of your baking dish. Cover the lasagna sheets with ½ of the meat and sauce mixture. Then, pipe on ½ of the cheese mixture. Tear some of the basil into smaller pieces and sprinkle over the top.
- Repeat the layers and then top with mozzarella cheese.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes until the top is nice and golden brown.
- Let it sit for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
I’m sharing this delish dish with my friends over at our weekly Fiesta Friday party co-hosted by Margy @ La Petite Casserole and Suzanne @ apuginthekitchen.
I love everything from cake to kale. Life is all about balance. I like to live, laugh and love to the fullest! Our time is too short not to enjoy ourselves.
It’s been way too long since lasagna and I had a date…I might need to change that! Looks delicious!
No one should go too long with out a lasagna date 😉 Thank you!
Oh my it is a wonderful pan of deliciousness Sarah-love this!!! Truly a personal fav of mine, too!!! Yay! xo
Thank you so much 🙂 Great minds think alike!
I just love this recipe, Sarah. Using fresh basil is genius and I love that you mixed meat and used fresh Ricotta. Saving!
Thanks so much! I hope you love it as much as we do 🙂
Ah!! I was dreaming about lasagna the other day!! Looks like you got me covered! Good thing Halloween isn’t a big thing in Taiwan, so I didn’t have a problem with overdosing on candy 😂 but maybe I will have a lasagna overdose instead!
I 100% approve of a lasagna overdose 😉
This is just gorgeous! I’ve never made one with fresh lasagna – I guess I usually just make fresh pasta or fill ravioli. But why not? I’m sure it’s better than with dried lasagna noodles!
Thank you so much! It makes an incredible difference in the finished dish 🙂
Your lasagna with the homemade pasta has to be delicious.
Thank you, I like to think so 😉
I love to make lasagna, but I have never tried to make my own pasta! Very nice! Someday, I would like to try to do that. Thank you for sharing your recipe, and for the inspiration to make my own pasta!
You’re going to love homemade pasta! Can’t wait for you to try it 🙂
The idea of using a ruler to cut the pasta it is great! I am sure your lasagna was awesome… the first photo made me drool on the screen!
I try not to get too OCD with the ruler, but it definely helps! That’s such a wonderful compliment 🙂