Three Meat Lasagna Recipes

CLASSIC AND SIMPLE MEAT LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, add the lasagna noodles a few at a time, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 10 minutes. Remove the noodles to a plate.
• Place the ground beef into a skillet over medium heat, add the garlic, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and black pepper to the skillet. Cook the meat, chopping it into small chunks as it cooks, until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Drain excess grease.
• In a bowl, mix the cottage cheese, eggs, and Parmesan cheese until thoroughly combined.
• Place 4 noodles side by side into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking pan; top with a layer of the tomato-basil sauce, a layer of ground beef mixture, and a layer of the cottage cheese mixture. Repeat layers twice more, ending with a layer of sauce; sprinkle top with the mozzarella cheese. Cover the dish with aluminum foil.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the casserole is bubbling and the cheese has melted, about 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until cheese has begun to brown, about 10 more minutes. Allow to stand at least 10 minutes before serving.

THREE-CHEESE MEATBALL LASAGNE

Steps:

• Squeeze the meat from the sausages and roll into meatballs - you'll get about four balls from each sausage. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wide, deep frying pan or casserole dish. Cook the meatballs in batches, making sure you don't overcrowd the pan, until they're all golden brown. Put them aside on a plate when they're ready.
• Heat the rest of the oil in the pan and add the onion. Cook for 8-10 mins until soft, then stir in the garlic, fennel, oregano and chilli, if using. Stir around for a min or 2, then add the sugar, passata and tomatoes. Swish a little water around the containers to wash out all the tomatoes and add to the pan. Season well and simmer, uncovered, for 30-40 mins over a gentle heat until the sauce thickens and the chopped tomatoes break down.
• Heat the butter in a saucepan, add the bay leaves and let them sizzle in the butter for 1 min, then add the flour. Whisk to make a smooth paste, then add the milk, a little at a time, stirring continuously until it's all incorporated and you have a thick white sauce. Add the nutmeg and some seasoning. Leave over a low heat for 5 mins to allow the bay to infuse, whisking every now and then.
• Keep about 10 meatballs aside and add the rest to the tomato sauce. Spoon half the tomato sauce and meatballs into a baking dish (ours was 25cm x 35cm). Top with half the spinach, the basil and a little parmesan. Pour over about a third of the white sauce, and top with a layer of lasagne sheets, breaking them up to fit the dish if you need to.
• Repeat the layers once more; meatballs and sauce, spinach, basil, parmesan, white sauce, pasta. Pour the remaining white sauce over the lasagne, spreading it to the corners to cover the pasta. Dot with the meatballs you set aside earlier and the mozzarella, then scatter over a generous helping of parmesan and cheddar. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Or if not eating straight away, chill for up to 24 hrs or freeze for two months (defrost in the fridge overnight before cooking).
• Bake the lasagne for 40-50 mins until bubbling and golden with lots of crusty cheesy bits around the edges. Leave to sit for 5-10 mins before serving.

3 MEAT 3 CHEESE LASAGNA

Steps:

• Brown the meat, and drain.
• Add both cans of sauce to the meat mixture, and heat on low, covered, making sure to stir every few minutes.
• While the sauce is heating, boil the noodles according to package directions, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• When the noodles are ready, drain them and run cold water over them so that they are not too hot to touch.
• Put a little bit of the meat sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish.
• Do 2 layers of: 4 noodles, meat sauce, parmesan cheese, mozza-cheddar cheese.
• Final layer is 4 noodles, meat sauce, and parmesan cheese (mozza-cheddar layer gets added later, so it won't burn).
• Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes.
• Take out of the oven and put a final layer of mozza-cheddar cheese on top; bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and just starting to brown, don't let it get overdone.
• Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

THREE MEAT LASAGNA

Steps:

• Cook onion in olive oil in a large skillet until tender, several minutes.
• Add garlic, ground beef, italian sausage, basil, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper to pan and cook until meat is thoroughly browned and breaking up lumps as it cooks.
• Drain fat.
• Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, and brown sugar to pan, mixing well.
• Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25-30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cook lasagna noodles in plenty of boiling salted water for ten minutes, then drain.
• In a mixing bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, eggs, parmesan, salt, pepper, and parsley until smooth.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• In a large lasagna baking pan, place 1/3-1/2 of meat sauce in bottom of pan (just enough to cover).
• On top of the meat sauce in pan, layer the lasagna as follows: 4 noodles (to cover pan), 8 ounces shredded mozzarella, 4 ounces sliced pepperoni, 4 more noodles, ricotta cheese mixture, 4 more noodles, remaining meat sauce mixture, 8 ounces mozzarella, 4 ounces of pepperoni, and 1/4 cup parmesan.
• If any corners of noodles try to stick up past the sauce in the pan, tuck them under the sauce.
• Bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes or until heated through and cheese is golden and bubbly.
• Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving.

THREE-CHEESE LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat 10-12 minutes or until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in pasta from the dinner mix, contents of seasoning mix, water, tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and onions. Bring to a boil. , Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10-13 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir in cottage cheese and Parmesan cheese. , Transfer to two greased 8-in. square baking dishes. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months. , Cover and bake the remaining casserole 15-20 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted. , To use frozen casserole: Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before baking (do not thaw). Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour. Uncover; bake 15-20 minutes longer or until heated through.