American Lasagna

Lasagna is one classic Italian dish everybody has eaten and loves to make.

However, the American Lasagna is a bit different but none the less absolutely delicious as well with the inclusion of ricotta cheese and thicker pasta sheets.

Lasagna is the perfect dish for you to make on any given day and is often the star of the show on the dinner table.

Health benefits

Each serving of American Lasagna contains 650 calories. It is a fairly rich dish so it will be healthy if eaten in moderation. The 3 types of cheeses included in it are abundant in calcium while the tomato sauce contains lycopene which is good for the yes.

Ingredients

pounds of ground lean beef: 1 1/2

Large onion (chopped): 1

salt: 2 tsp

Brown sugar: 2 tbsp

Dried oregano: 1 tsp

cloves garlic, minced: 2

chopped basil: 1 tbsp

can dice tomatoes: 1 (30 oz)

lasagna noodle sheets: 12

pint ricotta cheese: 1

parmesan: 1 cup

dried parsley: 2 tbsp

grated mozzarella cheese: 4 cups

vegetable oil: 1/4 cup

eggs--beaten: 2

cans tomato paste: 2

cooking spray or butter: 2 tbsp

How To Make American Lasagna

1. In a large skillet over high heat, add in the oil and cook the ground beef until it is golden. This should take around and 5-8 minutes. Drain away the fat from the beef.
2. Add in the oregano, basil, 1 ½ tsp salt, brown sugar, tomato paste and diced tomatoes in the beef and keep simmering for another 40-45 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
4. Boil water in a large pot and a pinch of salt in it.
5. When the water reaches a boil, all the pasta sheets and cook them for 5-8 minutes or until they are al dente.
6. Drain the water and blot the pasta sheets with some napkins until they are dry.
7. In a medium bowl, ass in the beaten eggs, parsley, ½ tsp salt, parmesan and ricotta cheese and mix well until all the flavors are fully combined.
8. In a 9x13 inch baking dish, grease the bottom with some cooking spray or butter.
9. Layer the dish with 1/3 of the pasta sheets until it is fully covered.
10. Cover the pasta sheets with 1/3 ricotta cheese mixture, top it again with 1/3 of the grated mozzarella and then 1/3 of the beef tomato mixture. Repeat this layering technique thrice and sprinkle some additional mozzarella and parmesan on the top.
11. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes and let it stand for 10-15 minutes.
12. Serve and enjoy!

Trivia

• 20^th July is national lasagna day.
• Garfield’s favorite dish is lasagna.

Lasagna dates back in Italy to the 13^th century but since tomatoes were not cultivated back then, the recipes didn’t originally include the tomato sauce like they do today.