The Infamous Lasagna

So, it's pretty much world famous. Well. U.S. Famous. Well. All my family and friends love it. So that's pretty close...

Lots N Lots of Ingredients
Sauce
Sausage, Out of Casings, Sweet or Hot (Your Preference)
Ground Beef One Pound (Chuck)
1 Onion, diced
Crushed Garlic (2-3 cloves)
Red Wine (I use Cabernet. Half a bottle or more.)
Crushed, strained tomatoes (I like Pomi Brand. In a carton in the Tomato Aisle.)
Oregano
Basil
Salt
Pepper
Sugar

Preheat large saucepan over medium high heat. Add sausage, break up with wooden spoon, and brown on one side. Turn to brown other side and break up more. Add ground beef and brown on one side, crumbling together with sausage. Add onions and brown in the meat drippings. Season with salt and pepper. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Add half bottle of red wine (or more) and simmer over medium heat till reduced and thickened. (The point here is to infuse the meats with the red wine. If it looks too dry, add more wine.) Add crushed strained tomatoes and stir. Add dried spices here. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered but vented. Stir often, tomatoes will scald and stick to bottom of pan. The sauce should simmer gently, adjust your stove accordingly. Simmer for at least 3 hours and up to all day. (all day on low, keep it barely simmering)

Pasta
Lasagne Noodles. 12 of them, plus one or two extra in case any break.
Par-Boil as directed on Box. Toss with small amount of Olive Oil to prevent sticking.

Cheesey Goodness Filling
16 ounces ricotta
1/3 cup grated parmesan-reggianato cheese
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella
salt
pepper
freshly grated nutmeg (to highlight flavor, a pinch.)
1 egg, beaten.
In medium bowl, mix ricotta, parmesan, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Add shredded mozzarella and then mix beaten egg into the cheese mixture.

Extras
Shredded Mozzarella for 1 layer of sprinkling and for topping
Preheat oven to 350 Faerenheit. (I know I spelled that wrong. I don't care.)

Assembly
In a 9x13 Pyrex dish, spread a small amount of sauce on the bottom to prevent noodles from sticking. Line pan with 3 lasagna noodles, and spread half the ricotta mixture evenly over them. Top with 3 more noodles. Add a layer of the meat sauce. Sprinkle sauce layer with shredded mozarella. Top with 3 more noodles, an then the remaining ricotta mixture, evenly. Top with last 3 noodles, pushing down to evenly distribute ricotta mixture. Top with more of the meat sauce, covering noodles completely. Cover Pyrex with tin foil, and bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Remove tin foil, and sprinkle top of lasagna with shredded mozzarella. Turn oven to broil and allow to slightly brown cheese as it melts. WATCH CAREFULLY! Don't burn the cheese!!
When cheese is bubbly and light brown, remove lasagna from oven. Allow to sit for 20 minutes. (If you skip this step, the cheesey goodness will ooze and schmooze. And that's not Good Eats. Oh wait, I'm not Alton Brown.)

After 20 minutes, slice lasagna into manageable sized pieces, and serve with some garlic bread yumminess, and some mixed greens with balsamic or a nice caesar salad. Or just chow down, baby. Your call.

This stuff's GOOOOOOOD!