Basic Meat Lasagne

Basic Meat Lasagne -- Photo by JayDi Photography

At Jay's request, I obliged his craving for a very basic, no frills meat lasagna.  I made sure the flavour was there and that I was using quality ingredients and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. He didn't want chunks of anything in the meat sauce. So I grated my onion on my regular old box grater, making sure to keep all the juices for the sauce. (hello flavour!) You could use a food processor as well, I just didn't want to lug it out for just the one onion. I take a shortcut here with oven-ready noodles. They are such a time saver since I don't have to boil the noodles and make sure they don't stick together or break. This recipe will make a pretty big pan; definitely enough to feed a hungry crowd.  Lasagna also freezes very well, so you could easily freeze leftovers in portions for make ahead lunches or dinners. 

Basic Meat Lasagne

Ingredients:
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 large onion, grated or pulsed in a food processor
4 cloves garlic, grated
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup water
3 (28oz) cans crushed tomatoes
1 box oven-ready lasagna noodles
1 large brick (500g) mozzarella, shredded

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large saucepot, add onion and garlic.  Cook a few minutes until they get translucent, but not brown.
Add 1/2 cup water in the pot and quickly bring to a boil. Stir the ground beef and seasoning into the water. Cover, and cook until the meat is done, about 20 minutes.
Remove the lid and continue cooking uncovered until the liquid has evaporated. (This step ensures that the meat granules are very small and not clumpy as ground beef tends to be sometimes.)
Add the crushed tomatoes at this point and simmer for 30 minutes. (depending on your tastes, you may opt to sweeten the sauce with sugar and add extra seasoning)
Use Primo oven ready lasagne without boiling.
A generous amount of sauce is necessary for best results. A thinner sauce is required to cook oven ready lasagne. Be sure to cover noodles completely with sauce. Sprinkle each layer with cheese.
When placing lasagne side by side, leave 1/2 inch between strips. Do not overlay edges. Lasagne will expand during baking.
Bake at 350ºF for approximately 30-40 minutes.
Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.