World's Best Lasagna

By hazelljbmh

The best lasagna ever! I got this recipe from allrecipes.com and used too much sausage the first time I made it. Since it was so good I continue to make it with a lot of sausage and a few other changes. The original recipe calls for 1 lb of sausage; my adjustments are included in the recipe below.

Ingredients

• 3 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 12 lasagna noodles, uncooked
• 15 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preparation

Step 1

In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water.
Season with sugar, basil, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, and pepper. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, 1 tsp Italian seasoning, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.