Grandma’s lasagna-American style

• 1 lb Italian sausage or ground beef (can sub finely chopped mushrooms for the meat here)
• 2 28oz cans whole peeled tomatoes
• 16 oz tomato sauce
• 2 small onions or 1 large onion
• 1/2 tsp each oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (half of that if using dried)
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 10 oz uncooked lasagna noodles
• 1 lb ricotta
• 1/2 lb fresh sliced mozerella
• 1 cup freshly grated mozzarella
• 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan grated.

1. In a Dutch oven, brown the sausage or ground beef. Spoon meat onto plate and set aside.
2. In food processor or chopper, add the onion and pulse until finely chopped. Add to now empty Dutch oven on low heat with all dried spices. Stir around and let it start to turn yellow.
3. Pour tomatoes into chopper and pulse until finely chopped. Add to Dutch oven with onions.
4. Pulse the Italian sausage a few times in the chopper to finely chop. If you used ground beef you can skip that. Add the meat to the Dutch oven and stir.
5. Simmer one hour
6. As 16oz of tomato sauce and simmer another 15.
7. Add red wine and simmer another 15. Remove from heat
8. in 9×13 casserole, spoon sauce to coat the bottom. Layer lasagna noodles on bottom (mine took four and 3/4)
9. Spread half of the ricotta on the uncooked noodles. Spoon sauce over that layer and sprinkle half the shredded mozzarella.
10. Layer more noodles. Spread with ricotta. Top with sauce and remaining shredded mozarella
11. Top with another layer of pasta, top with sauce and slices of fresh mozzarella. Cover tightly with foil and bake one hour in a 375f oven (no fan).
12. Remove foil, sprinkle with Parmesan and return to oven for 15 minutes.
13. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with salad.

I have just a couple tweaks like a little more cheese than it called for and I bloom the spices in the oil before adding the tomatoes.

Because Italian sausage has a lot of flavor, the spice levels are pretty low for the amount of sauce. If using ground beef, taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.

I usually make garlic bread with this but that’s a lot of carbs. Make sure you eat with a salad for a better balanced meal.

For timing, make the sauce early in the day or the day before and refrigerate. Warm it up before assembling.

My mom cut this out of the Fremont Argonaut in 1970. If you have newspapers.com, you can access it here. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/37963460/

The catering company started by Jim Miraglia operated for over 70 years and closed in 2021.