lasagna! AND homemade pasta sauce!

ok so tonight i went to one of my FAVORITE italian restaurants, angelo's in irving, texas. they have the best lasagna in the world and they are so cute because they bake them in their own individual oblong bowl-type thing. the lasagna is always hot, fresh, and still bubbling from the oven. yummm. so anyhoo, i figured i'd put on here my easy-to-do lasagna, along with easy-to-make pasta sauce.

PASTA SAUCE

2 28oz. cans whole or crushed plum tomatoes (you can crush them yourself if you want.)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper (freshly ground if you have it.)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tbsp. italian seasoning

in a stock pot, heat the olive oil on a medium-high flame. add the chopped onion and saute about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another 5-ish minutes until the onions are translucent. then add the rest of the ingredients (tomatoes, salt, pepper, bay leaf and italian seasoning.) cook sauce for about an hour to get full flavor. don't forget to take out the bay leaf! also, if you want to make it a meat sauce, just brown a pound of lean ground beef and throw it in there when the sauce is about halfway cooked. so simple.


**now these are rough estimates for seasonings, so feel free to add or subtract to what you like. sometimes i'll add more italian seasoning or salt to taste. if the sauce has that bitter, tomato taste, add a teaspoon of sugar....it'll help.


***also, i wanted to let you know about my favorite type of plum tomatoes to use. at central market they have the san marzano plum tomatoes and they have the same kind with basil already in the can. the basil infuses its flavor in the tomatoes and they taste amazing. if you can't find the ones with basil already in there, just get a big basil leaf and chop it up and put it in your sauce when you add your other seasonings. here's a pic of what the can looks like...












and now onto making the lasagna....

1 box uncooked lasagna noodles
**i prefer the de cecco no-boil lasagna noodles, you don't have to pre-cook the noodles before putting them in the pan.
1 16oz. container of part skim ricotta cheese
3-4 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
chopped parsley to garnish if you want.

in the bottom of a 9x13 Pyrex baking dish, spoon some of the sauce to coat the bottom of the pan. place one layer of noodles on top of the sauce. spread 1/3 of the ricotta cheese on top of the noodles, then add sauce to the top, then sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top of that. then repeat noodles, ricotta, sauce, mozzarella until you have as many layers as you want. (i usually do about 3 or 4.) on the top layer, do not put ricotta, just put the remainder of the sauce, mozzarella, and put the parmigiano reggiano cheese on top to help make a crunchy/crusty top layer. bake in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour on 375 degrees. after you take it out of the over, be sure to let it rest for about 20-30 minutes so that the pasta sets up.

so that's basically about it. if you have some questions or want some suggestions let me know!