Your Daily Dish: Deep Dish Meat Lasagna

Bite Me More | October 12th, 2013

Take a bigger bite out of life! Every day is a holiday with BiteMeMore.com.

The ever-brilliant tenor Luciano Pavarotti was born on this day in 1935. While we warm up our vocal chords, we’re honoring this Italian operatic legend by baking up this ovation-worthy Deep Dish Meat Lasagna with layers of soft noodles, hearty meat sauce and melted cheese.

Ingredients

Meat Sauce

2 lbs lean ground beef
1 (28oz/796ml) can diced tomatoes
1 cup tomato paste
3 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp dried oregano

Cheese Filling

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups ricotta cheese
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tsp kosher salt

12 oven-ready lasagna noodles
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided in half
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for topping

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 13×9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

2) For the sauce, in a large skillet, brown beef over medium-high heat. Drain and return to pan, adding diced tomatoes with their juice, tomato paste, brown sugar, basil, salt and oregano. Bring to a boil and then turn down to low, simmering for 30 minutes.

3) For the cheese filling, in a medium bowl, whisk eggs, ricotta, Parmesan, basil and salt.

4) To assemble, spread 1 cup of meat sauce in the prepared dish. Top with 4 noodles, 1/2 of the ricotta mixture, 11/2 cups mozzarella and 1 cup meat sauce. Top with 4 more noodles, remaining ricotta and remaining mozzarella. Place 4 remaining noodles on top, cover with remaining meat sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes.

Serves 8

If meat isn’t your thing but you’d still love some lasagna, give this fantastic Four Cheese & Mushroom Lasagna a try.

Whether it’s cruising the aisles at the Dollar Store or experimenting at the stove, we believe that every day can be a holiday.

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