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Simple Classic Lasagna

This super simplified and delicious lasagna is sure to be a crowd pleaser and is always a hit with the kids! It comes together rather quickly and with minimal effort and ingredients, but is sure to always hit the spot!
Print Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, European, Italian, pasta
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

Meat Sauce

  • 1-2 lbs ground beef
  • 1 yellow onion chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 carrots finely diced
  • 2 stalks celery finely diced
  • 6 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp dried oregano
  • ½ tsp dried basil
  • ½ tsp dried thyme
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp onion powder
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • 2 cans whole tomatoes with juices
  • 1 can tomato paste
  • ½-1 cup beef broth or better than bouillon

Lasagna

  • 1 box lasagna noodles
  • 250 g mozzarella cheese high fat, low moisture - a pizza mozzarella works great!

Instructions
 

Prep

  • Make my simple meat sauce and let it simmer for 30min or more (the longer the better!).
  • Boil pasta according to directions, just until al dente.
  • Shred mozzarella (or slice it, if short on time).

Assemble

  • Preheat oven to 350°
  • In a large pyrex/casserole dish start to assemble to lasagna layers. Start with a thin layer of sauce (this helps prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom, I try to get sauce without meat/veggie pieces in it for this part). Place one layer of lasagna noodles, enough to cover the base of the dish, with slight overlap of each piece (for my favourite dish, this is usually four noodles, 3 lengthwise and one across the short edge).
  • Top with a layer of meat sauce and then a layer of shredded cheese. Repeat with two or three more layers
  • Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30-40min, remove foil and bake for an additional 10min, or broil on low for 5min until top layer of cheese is golden and melted.

Notes

  1. Meat: this is best made with a true Bolognese sauce, so substituting in half pork or sausage mince will add a great depth of flavour.
  2. Tomato sauce: if you don't have much time to simmer the sauce, use a pair of scissors to chop up the tomatoes while still in the can, so that you don't need to wait for them to break down while cooking.
  3. Sauce: feel free to sub 1 jar of marinara/pasta sauce in place of the canned tomatoes and tomato paste to make this even more simple.
  4. Cheese:
    -do not use pre-shredded cheese (it will not melt nicely, not as flavourful and more expensive)
    -substitute cottage cheese for the second layer of mozzarella for a creamier ricotta-esque result.
  5. Additional Nutrition: add 1 cup finely chopped spinach into the sauce (at the very end of cooking).
Keyword lasagna, meat sauce, mozzarella, pasta, simplified