the lasagna recipes

The traditional italian lasagna recipe for the Christmas Holidays





Difficulty: Medium
Portions: 6-8
Preparation: 35 min
Baking time: 40 minutes



The lasagna per le feste is a fancy and traditional italian meatballs lasagna, usually served during the Christmas holidays, or at the first instants passed midnight on Christmas day, when it is permitted to eat meat again... For a vegetarian version of this lasagna, substitute the meatballs with spinach cooked and drained, or other assorted vegetables and ricotta cheese...










Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of fresh lasagna noodles made by hand, or store bought dried lasagna

* Ingredients for the meatballs:
- 1 lb. ground veal
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped finely
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt

* The sauce:
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 10 cups tomato sauce or simply tomatoes blended in a food processor
- Salt, pepper and chopped fresh basil to taste

* Putting everything together:
- 1 and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 5 hard-boiled eggs, chopped coarsely
- 1 lb. grated mozzarella cheese

Recipe for 6-8 portions

Instructions

I- Preparing the sauce:

In a big saucepan, cook the onion and the garlic in oil, until it is completely translucent; add tomato sauce, bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer gently. Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs. Shape meatballs the size of a big olive. As you are making them, add the meatballs to your tomato sauce. Season with salt. Add chopped fresh basil after cooking the sauce to replace the pepper. Otherwise, pepper to taste when salt. Simmer the sauce gently, covered about 1 hour. The sauce with the meatballs can be prepared 2 days before using.

II- Cooking the lasagna noodles:

Cook the pasta following the package instructions. If the pasta is handmade, cook 20 seconds in boiling salted water. Do not boil more than three each time. As soon as cooked, remove the pasta and cool off in a big bowl of cold water. Pat dry the pasta on towels without them touching one another, or they will stick!

III- Putting the lasagna together:

Generously oil up a large enough lasagna pan. To begin, cover the bottom of the pan with some sauce, without meatballs. Arrange the so that they overlap slightly. Spread the sauce as evenly as possible and divide the meatballs evenly. Divide the chopped hard boiled eggs, Parmesan and mozzarella. Repeat the process for 6 layers: hard boiled eggs, Parmesan and mozzarella will be divided in six parts, one per layer. Top with tomato sauce, eggs, Parmesan and mozzarella. We can prepare the lasagna and keep it refrigerated still unbaked up to two days.

Bake, in the preheated oven at 350 °F until the top cheese layer is golden crisp and sauce is bubbling a little, or about 40 minutes.






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