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Christmas Lasagna

Paul65k

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Well my mom always made Lasagna at Christmas and I thought I'd give it a try myself this year. Mom passed away close to more than 25 years ago but as a kid she always had me helping when she made lasagna.

I pretty much remember how she did everything but fortunately my wife found one of her 3x5 cards with the recepie that mom had dictated to her one day just bacauseshe knew how much I loved it.

I've made lasagna a few times over the years but always was in a hurry and cut a few corners here and there............this year I vowed to do it right just like mom did and I thought I'd keep track of it here......we have a dinner planned with friends and family Friday night so lots of stuff left to do.

First of all I started the sauce a couple of days ago. Starting with a little olive oil, spices, onions lots of Garlic (of course), basil, some Italian seasoning, and a few other secret things :D. The way we did it at my house when I was a Kid (both Grandparents on my Mom's side came from Italy to the USA) was to cook the sauce for 3-4 days adding ingredients along the way with 2 sometimes even 3 grates under the pot to keep it from burning. It's been on the stove for 2 days now and I'm getting ready to make the rest of what we need so it can be assembled in the morning.

Sauce Pan.jpg
Sauce.jpg



Home made Meatballs in a little bit which will include:
  • Ground Beef
  • Ground Pork
  • Home made breadcrumbs (made from overly stale italian bread)
  • Eggs
  • Parmasean and Romano Cheese
  • Garlic (of course)
  • Chopped Parsley
  • Seasoned to taste
  • added to the sauce for 12-18 hours

Meatball1.jpg

Meatball2.jpg

Italian Sausage (sweet not hot for Lasagna)
  • Fried up whole and allowed to sit in the sauce for 12-18 hours

Ricotta Cheese
  • Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese (Part Skim if that's all you can find)
  • Eggs (1 per lb of cheese
  • Chopped Parsley
  • Mozzeralla Cheese (cubed, never grated, 1/4lb per lb of Ricotta)

Ricotta.jpg
Mozzarella Cheese
  • Sliced thin (5lb block from Costco is mandatory......Thanks Dave and Stacy for getting that in Vegas yesterday):thumbsup:thumbsup
  • Believe it or not this is 66 slices of Mozzarella to make 2 pans :eek

Mozzarella Brick.jpg
Mozzarella slices1.jpg
Mozzarella slices.jpg

Lasagna Noodles
  • My mom always used store bought noodles and I think they are fine

Parmasean Cheese
  • Medium fresh Grated for the top of the lasagna
  • Finely grated (crumb almost) for the layers meatballs

So after you do all that you have to put it all together which I will do in the morning and I'll add additional pictures after we make the noodles, and then put it all together so we can bake it in time for the Big dinner tonight........Stay Tuned!!
 

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Singleton

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Looks yummy. Made me hungry. Time to order in lasagna for dinner. Wife is shopping and daddy and daughter are under the weather, so no cooking tonight.
 

Headless hula

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I'm coming out to Vegas in january.

I wonder how much cheese I should bring along.

We're spoiled here in Wisconsin.

I bet I could sell a truckload of it. Lolol..
 

Deja_Vu

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That looks amazing...your Mom would be proud. :thumbup:

Lasagna is one of my favorites. Merry Christmas!
 

Paul65k

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Well................I spent the morning putting all the ingredients together and thought I'd take you through the process.

First thing I did was to cook the Lasagna Noodles (not completely cooked but Al Dente) to make sure that they don't turn to mush when the casserole is baked later this evening. The next thing is to get everything ready for the assembly process this includes:



  • Cooked Noodles
  • Sauce
  • Previously sliced Mozzarella cheese
  • Meatballs cut into smaller pieces (not crumbled)
  • Italian sausage (sliced)
  • Ricotta cheese Mixture (done yesterday)
  • Grated Parmasean Cheese (I cheated and used Kraft:eek)
  • Grated Parmasean/Romano blend for top layer

Lasagna prep.jpg


So the way you do this is to cover the bottom of the pan with tomato sauce, then add a layer of the Noodles

lasagna.jpg

Then you add a layer of the "Filling" that includes
  • Ricotta Mixture
  • Meatballs
  • Sausage
lasagna1.jpg

Once you have that all in there you add a layer of sliced Mozzarella Cheese and then top it with sause and grated Parmasean


lasagna2.jpg

lasagna3.jpg

This gets repeated I made the deep pan with 3 layers and the other one with 2.


The last layer is another layer of noodles, then sause and finally topped off with the shredded Parmasean/Romano Mixture. If you were to do the top layer in Mozzarella it would get crusty when the casserole is baked.


Parmasean-Romano.jpg

The final product is shown here and we'll be putting it in the over this evening around 5PM and should be ready by 6PM. I'll post some pics tonight when it comes out of the oven and let you know how it came out!!

lasagna4.jpg
 

Heylam

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Wow, that looks incredible!! All that cook time on the sauce will have broken down all the acids leaving it so sweet and tasty. A good red wine to savor with that meal, a nice fireplace to relax around afterwards , and a fine cigar would make for an epic evening with friends.
 

Paul65k

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Wow, that looks incredible!! All that cook time on the sauce will have broken down all the acids leaving it so sweet and tasty. A good red wine to savor with that meal, a nice fireplace to relax around afterwards , and a fine cigar would make for an epic evening with friends.
Now you're talking:thumbup::thumbup:
 

Andy B.

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What time is dinner? That looks yummy!!!!:thumbsup
 

mjc

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When retire and have time I might need that recipe. That looks fantastic
 

Paul65k

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Well..............The Lasagna was very well received by our Havasu Palms family last night. I was concerned of course that it would turn out OK after all the work. One thing I can tell you about making something like this is that the magic of Lasagna is all the flavors coming together so sometimes when youre making it you wonder if the individual tastes will come together and I gotta say that it truly did and it is without a doubt the best I've ever made :cool

Everyone must have liked it because people I've know for years and I have never seen go back for seconds (not me of course:rolleyes) did just that last night and the Lasagna was very well received:thumbup:

IMG_3268.jpg

I was just thinking that this is my 27th Christmas without my mom around and her Lasagna as part of the festivities and I think that going forward it will be a part of the festivities every year.........Thanks Mom!!
 

sirbob

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Glad it turned out so well!

I think we are doing the same this year - we have always done the prime rib with lobster bisque every year.

I won't be three days into mine ...

I make a white one with sausage and spinach layered in. Then I make a pot of red sauce that can be scooped over the top it somebody wants red.

I think we are also going to make a penne chicken pesto to complete the red/green visual for Christmas!

Heading to the store this morning to get everything...

Merry Christmas !
 

spectra3279

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Well, I have 20lbs of prime rib draped with bacon that's going in the smoker in about 30 minutes or so
 
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