Carmela's lasagna with Italian meat sauce (gravy)
Binging with Babish · ♥ 131.4K likes · 7.4M views · 10 min video
Read about ground beef in the BrightCulinary Book
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Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- extra virgin olive oil
- large chopped onion
- crushed garlic
- ground beef
- sweet Italian sausage
Heat olive oil to a shimmer over medium heat; sweat the onion until soft and translucent, add the garlic and saute one more minute until fragrant; set aside.
Brown the sausage and beef in batches until crumbly and brown; drain off most of the fat.
- 4 can San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 can water
Return the onions and garlic, add the crushed tomatoes and the browned meat, and add one tomato can of water.
Cover and bring up, then partially cover, turn the heat as low as it will go and keep barely bubbling for an hour and a half, stirring and scraping down the sides.
- chopped basil
- kosher salt
- black pepper
In the last five minutes add chopped basil and season with kosher salt and black pepper.
- lasagna noodles
Variation: add a few tablespoons of tomato paste to the onions and garlic before the tomatoes, and simmer with a Parmesan rind and a whole basil stem.
Boil the lasagna noodles no more than four minutes so they stay almost crunchy, move to cool water to halt cooking, and lay out on a lint-free towel.
Spread a layer of sauce in the pan, shingle in noodles, alternating the pattern each layer.
Layering Carmela's lasagna
- ricotta
- ½ oz parmesan cheese
- basil leaves
- fresh mozzarella cheese
Spread ricotta, grate about half an ounce of parmesan, lay basil leaves, then thinly sliced fresh mozzarella, then sauce; repeat for three layers.
- salt
- freshly ground pepper
Top with a generous coat of sauce, a generous grating of parmesan, and a little salt and pepper.