Diana’s Lasagna Recipe
Ingredients:
- Love 🙂
- 1.5 lbs ground beef or turkey (for vegetarian, substitute your favorite veggie)
- 1.5 medium to large zucchini, diced (or other seasonal veggie)
- half red onion, chopped
- half yellow onion, chopped
- lasagna noodles (boxed or make your own — instructions below)
- 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 1 – 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
- 2 – 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes with basil, oregano, garlic
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 Tbs ghee (I have a separate post on how to make ghee)
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- shredded mozzarella (optional)
- lasagna baking pan
- foil
Pre-heat oven to 375.
The most important ingredient in this recipe is love. It should be added every step of the way.
Meat layer:
Add about a tablespoon of ghee to large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown meat. In the same pan to the side OR in a separate pan, sauté the onions and garlic in another tablespoon of ghee. Then combine meat, onions and garlic. Add oregano, basil, garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the zucchini at the end. Cook until the zucchini begin to get slightly soft, then remove from heat.
Sauce:
In a separate sauce pan, combine the canned tomatoes. Add additional garlic, oregano, and basil. Use a hand blender to make the consistency more like a sauce. Heat to keep sauce warm.
Noodles:
- 3 eggs
- 2 ¼ cups of flour
- 1 quart size zipper bag
- Pasta machine
In a large mixing bowl, add the flour and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs to the well. Begin to beat the eggs and the flour will gradually work its way into the eggs, making a dough. The dough will likely seem dry. Begin to kneed the dough. Add a tsp of water and continue to kneed. If still dry, add another half tsp of water. Kneed it into a ball and place in a zipper bag and let sit for 10 -30 minutes or so until the dough becomes soft.
Separate dough into 4 to 6 sections. Take one section and flatten it by hand or with a rolling pin. Feed it through the pasta machine until the desired thickness. Here is a quick 1-minute demonstration on this step: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqqO2umKs24
Layer the lasagna:
In a lasagna pan, add a layer of sauce. Place the noodles on the sauce. (If using boxed noodles, follow the instructions on the box.) Add a layer of meat/veggies. (I prefer to sprinkle just a little bit of meat, not using too much on each layer.) Add a layer of sauce. Repeat as many times as you like, or until you run out of meat. End with a layer of pasta on top. Top it with sauce. Add shredded mozzarella (optional).
Bake the lasagna:
Cover the pan with foil and bake for 35 minutes.
Remove the foil. Use a fork and poke the center of the lasagna (to prevent bubbles).
Bake another 5-10 minutes until nicely browned.
Let cool about 10 minutes. Cut and serve.
If you can, buy organic and local. 🙂
Enjoy,
Diana
