The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. My mother and I can’t stick to any one recipe, so this is just one variation of lasagna that we collaborated on and it’s worth writing about, reading about, cooking and eating. It’s just that good. Not too cheesy, but cheesy enough.  

I make lasagna in many variations, but, this has to be my favorite. It starts with a version of  Retro Rose (my mom) thick tomato sauce, and her amazing meatballs. I took it from there using four cheeses and no boil pasta, but it’s the meatballs that made this absolutely the most delicious lasagna I ever had. This is not an exact exact recipe, as Italian food is just not prepared with that precision, but more of a feel of what seems right. However, there is good southern Italian food and some very very bad.  Ingredients matter. As does texture and assembly. Notice that the lasagna is not running all over the plate. It has been put together in such a way that once cut, it stays together.

This is worth a few extra power workouts, or perhaps just go out and shovel the snow or do some yard work (depending on where you live) and work up a good appetite. This is the perfect one dish meal and I decided to not serve bread, but only a salad and some nice red wine.

This recipe may seem a bit disorganized, and perhaps, scattered in many directions. Think of it as an orchestra in which each instrument must be finely tuned and separately mastered.  Lasagna ends up in one beautiful piece, but it is not, I repeat, NOT a casserole, where everything is thrown in raw and melded into one texture. Each part must be very good or it is not good at all.  Make your best sauce, use the best cheese, and do not scrimp on time or care. Some families only know lasagna through the freezer of the grocery store, but in our home, it’s made for special occasions because it takes  time and it is just that good. 

Rich Tomato Sauce

olive oil

onion, quartered

2 cloves garlic

1 green pepper, diced

3 T Tomato Paste

4 cans Italian Tomatoes

A few basil leaves

1 carrot or 2 T sugar

Big dash cinnamon

Salt, Pepper

In a large pot, add olive oil, garlic and onion. Once garlic and olive oil is cooked, remove, discard.

Add in green pepper and when soft, add in tomato paste. Once heated through and mixed well with olive oil, start to add puree from tomatoes. To make puree, squeeze within colander over a bowl. You should be able to get about 5/6 of the puree back from good tomatoes. Add 2 cans of water.

Add remaining ingredients and allow to simmer for 1-2 hours until thickened.

In the meantime, bake meatballs and add to sauce.

This is just a recent version of Retro Rose experimenting with her red sauce. She surprised me. After all these years of eating my mom’s cooking, how did her sauce just climb a few notches.  Her secret was throwing in a green bell pepper (a food I don’t cook with very often) and a little bit of cinnamon. Who knew?

I needed to make more sauce as my mother gave me just the meatballs and just half of the sauce. I opened a can of tomatoes, gave a taste and had to pitch them. I can’t explain what this taste is, but it borders metallic. I realized I did have some San Marzano tomatoes, a particular type of plum tomato, thought to be the best with a sweeter, less acidic taste. 

The Meatballs

Not very different from my recipe here. The only change she made was using old Italian bread and soaking it in milk. She made them on the large size, which made nice slices that stayed together.

The Pasta

I used a “no boil” lasagna from Trader Joe’s, and it was excellent. Next time I would like to try my own homemade pasta.

The Cheese Filling

1 pound ricotta fat cheese (do not use non-fat)

1/4 parmigiana reggiano cheese

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated

1/4 cup asiago cheese, coarsely grated

1/4 C Italian flat leafed parsley, finely chopped

pinch nutmeg, grated

Salt and Pepper

1 egg, slightly beaten

Mix everything EXCEPT the egg and taste. Once satisfied with the seasoning, add the egg and mix.

Day One: Make Tomato Sauce and 12 large meatballs the day before and allow flavors to meld overnight in fridge.

Day Two: Mix ricotta cheese filling.

Heat sauce, slice cold meatballs

Meatball Lasagna Assembly

Tomato Sauce

2 Packages Lasagna Noodles (you won’t use them all)

10 Meatballs (recipe here)

    Optional change: use 4 pieces stale Italian bread soaked in milk. Make them larger.

Ricotta Filling (shown above

2 cups mozzarella cheese or as needed to top lasagna

Grated Parmigiano Reggiano

You will use three layers of pasta, two layers of filling.

Put meatballs on both inside layers, randomly, then spread cheese randomly. Some bites have more meat, some have more cheese. Do this with both layers. Add mozzarella cheese. This made enough lasagna for an average sized lasagna pan and enough for a small bread pan.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until cheese is very melted, but not browned.

Allow to rest 20-30 minutes before cutting. You can use a warm tomato sauce to top when serving.

Notes: One way to make this easier, is to freeze sauce and meatballs from your last spaghetti and meatball dinner. You can also make this in a “freezable baking pan” and make this in advance.   You can use a tomato puree instead of canned tomatoes and follow instructions. Only partially boil if you choose to use lasagna noodles that you boil first. Don’t use a crushed tomato for the lasagna. This recipe is best used with a smooth sauce. Don’t use a non-fat ricotta cheese. It makes a difference.

Key Words: Italian, Retro Rose, Family Recipe, Lasagna, Meatball

Spinach Tiger Entry 24- Meatball Lasagna

All original content copyright © 2008 Angela Roberts, All Rights Reserved

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