Classic Italian Lasagna

Here is the Classic Italian Lasagna.  It's so good, I want to make it again, and we just ate the last of it last Thursday.  Once again I got the recipe here.  All I can say is, go make it, just go, NOW!  And then come back and thank me.


Classic Italian Lasagna


*Makes one 9x13 inch pan of lasagna.


Red Sauce:
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP butter
4 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced
1/2 large onion, diced (about 1/2 cup.  I used 1 small onion)
8 ounces mushrooms, chopped
2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce
1 6-ounce cane tomato paste
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper


White Sauce:
3 cups milk (not skim, I used 1%)
5 TBSP flour
4 TBSP butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper


9 lasagna noodles, boiled for half the time on the box (I would boil them for about 8 minutes or use 12 of the no-boil noodles)
1 pound ground turkey
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
8 ounces Parmesan cheese, shredded


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.


In a large skillet, brown the ground turkey over medium high heat, breaking the meat apart into pieces with a wooden spoon.  When turkey is cooked through, drain the grease and set aside.  


In a medium size saucepan over medium high heat, add 2 TBSP olive oil and one tablespoon butter.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper.  When oil/butter is hot, add the garlic, stirring constantly.  When the garlic is lightly browned, but NOT burned, add the onion and mushrooms.  Continue cooking on medium high heat until the vegetables are soft and browned and the fluid has mostly cooked out.  Remove from heat and blend to a paste like mixture in a blender.  Return the pot to the heat (pout the pureed vegetables back in), and add the tomato sauce and tomato paste.  Stir to combine.  Then add the diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  Stir.  Cover and let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes over medium low heat, stirring occasionally.  Right before using the red sauce in the lasagna, stir in the reserved ground turkey.


While the red sauce simmers, if using lasagna noodles that need to be boiled, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and boil the noodle for half the time suggested on the box.  Once the noodles are cooked, drain, but do not rinse.  Add a dab of olive oil to keep the from sticking together.  If you are using no-boil noodles, you can skip this step.


Also while the red sauce is cooking, melt the four tablespoons butter and when melted, add the flour, stirring constantly to combine and letting the mixture cook, while stirring, for a minute or two.  Gradually add in the milk, whisking constantly.  Add the salt and pepper.  Slowly whisk the white sauce, ensuring it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan, while cooking it over medium heat.  Continue slowly stirring or whisking while the white sauce cooks and thickens quite a bit, about 5-7 minutes.  


To begin layering the lasagna, keep in mind that you'll have three layers of noodles as well as three layers of the sauces and cheese, so plan on splitting all the sauce and cheese piles into thirds so you don't run out at the end. On the bottom of your lightly greased baking pan, layers three pre-boiled noodles or four no-boil noodles, slightly overlapping the no-boil noodles.  Layer the red sauce, white sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, spreading all to the edges and top with another layer of noodles.  Again, layer the red sauce, white sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses and top with the final layer of noodles.  Layer the sauces and cheeses again.


Cover the lasagna with a greased layer of aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and let the lasagna sit for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.




The lasagna was almost too salty, so I would omit the salt from one of the sauces next time I made it.  I would also bake it for 40 minutes, and let it sit for 15 minutes after baking.  Letting it sit helps it to set up and not be too soupy.  This was so worth the work, and I don't think I'll ever be able to use canned sauce again.