Meat Lasagna

 From January 31, 2004

This is from back when I still ate a good bit of meat.

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I think I started with the tomatoes...

1/2 cup dried tomatoes, 3/4 cup cabernet, & 1 teaspoon dry basil

I combined those in a small saucepan and let the wine cook down until it was thick, then let it cool while i was doing other things.

2 links of fresh hot italian sausage
1 small link of pepperoni

A piece of country ham that my parents brought me last weekend
1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

I cooked all of the meat (in total, right around 1/2 lb) over medium heat til it was brown, then added

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced

I turned the heat up to medium high and sauteed all of that in with the meat. when the onions were translucent, i added

the tomato-wine mixture
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon marjoram (+ some fresh marjoram from my plant)
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon of crushed hot pepper
2 8oz cans of tomato sauce
~2 cups of water

I brought it all to a simmer and let it cook down for probably an hour and a half to two hours. I got lucky, and this wound up being almost exactly the amount of sauce I needed. I think it's gonna wind up being a little soupy, though.

meanwhile....

I mixed 1 egg into a 16 oz container of cottage cheese (ricotta also works well, but is a little drier)

I cooked 9 lasagna noodles, because I couldn't remember how much they expand. I probably could have used 6 quite effectively, but 8 would have been ideal.

I also had 2 8 oz bags of shredded mozerella and 1 5 oz bag of parmessean. This is the first time I've done this with shredded parm (I think).

Once the noodles have cooked for however long the directions say to cook them, drain them in a collander and then pour some cold water on them so you can handle them.

I put this all in a 9x15 or so casserole (i don't remember the exact dimesnsions... it's rectangular, not square)
I put a spoonful of sauce in the bottom, and spread it around, so the bottom noodles don't stick. then two super-layers of smaller layers of stuff in this order. try to spread it all evenly:

1/2 of the noodles
full bag of mozarella
1/2 container of cottage cheese
1/2 of the meat sauce
1/2 of the bag of parmessean.

On the top layer, i like to sprinkle some more italian seasoning on the top, just for fun or something.

Preheat oven to 350F. cover dish with foil. bake 20-30 minutes with the foil on, then another 20-30 minutes with the foil off. let it rest for 10 minutes or so (I like to heat up bread in that time). slice and eat.

Note: most of my measurements are underestimated, since I didn't actually measure anything but the things that come as an object (sausage links, egg...) and the wine.