- [John] Hey, I'm John Kanell,
and today on "Preppy Kitchen,"
we're making an easy, delicious lasagna.
So let's get started.
First off, set your oven to 375 so it's nice and hot.
And now place a large Dutch oven,
over medium high heat and get it nice and warm.
(lighter clicks)
While that warms up, I have three quarters of a pound,
of a nice Italian sausage and I'm just going
to remove the casing because
that's not part of our delicious lasagna.
(upbeat music)
One and two.
Now I'm gonna add the sausage in,
along with three quarters of a pound of ground beef.
Use the back of a wooden spoon to break all that meat up,
and we're going to evenly brown it,
so you'll be stirring this occasionally,
for six to eight minutes.
While that meat's browning, let's do our prep work.
I have 2, 4, 6, 7 cloves of garlic.
My recipe calls for three,
but that means minimum three cloves of garlic.
And I'm in a garlic-y mood.
You can add as much as you'd like.
(knife chopping)
Stir, stir, stir.
This smells so good already.
Using Italian sausage is a great way,
to add flavor to all sorts of things.
I have a meatball recipe,
in my cookbook that uses Italian sausage.
It's served on a bed of polenta, with delicious sauce,
and it is one of my favorite things to eat ever.
And the hack is just using the Italian sausage,
for that extra boost of flavor.
(spoon knocking)
My last bit of chopping is just one onion.
Give it a nice dice.
Lasagna is one of those meals,
that's just so hearty and comforting,
and it has the ability to be really delicious.
A lot of times I find lasagnas are just lacking in flavor.
They're kind of flat, and that's disappointing.
This isn't gonna do that.
We're gonna have tons of flavor.
You'll have all those delicious moments,
and layers and you can pair this,
with a salad or some veggies and just be,
beyond happy, and full.
(knife chopping)
Easy as a meat and pasta pie.
And yes, there are all kinds of lasagna.
This is like a traditional red sauce lasagna,
with those hearty meat moments.
But in my cookbook,
I have a delicious roasted root vegetable lasagna.
That's amazing.
And you can have like a white lasagna like the list goes on.
It's any kind of flavor combination,
can be in these layers of pasta and cheese,
and something else.
While you're browning your meat,
just make sure you break up all those big chunks.
We don't want that, we want smaller even pieces.
The meat's all brown.
So let's add in the onion and garlic.
I'm gonna cook this,
for about five minutes while stirring frequently,
just so everything's nice and softened.
The bite's removed and it's that much more delicious.
(food sizzling)
Clearly this is an Americanized version,
but lasagna as this staple that we know and love,
originated in Naples many, many, many years ago.
And the name derives from,
you're gonna pardon my pronunciation, lagnon,
which is like an original kind of pasta,
big flat sheets that you'd cut into thin strips.
Of course, originally lasagna from all the way back
in the 14th century wouldn't have any tomato sauce.
As those came from the new world. (laughs)
Tomatoes came and just rocked Italy's world,
like turned everything upside down.
Can you imagine Italian food without tomatoes?
I can, but only because I've thought about it really hard.
(John laughs)
Thinking more pesto, creamy, buttery vibes.
Fish paste, if you go back to ancient Roman times.
This needs about a minute of cook time.
My onions are starting to soften,
but I wanna see them a little bit more translucent.
(food sizzling)
My onions are nice and soft.
So it's time for six ounces of tomato paste.
This is like pure lycopene magic,
and it's gonna give us a lot of flavor.
We want to add this first and cook it,
so that it really coats all of the meat,
and gives you that concentrated tomato flavor throughout.
I read that people thought tomatoes were poisonous,
when they first came to Europe because of the pewter,
wear that you eat off of.
Pewter looks like silver when it's shiny,
but then it turns to a dull color.
Acids will leach lead out of the pewter,
and tomato's acidic. (laughs)
So people were getting sick,
after having these tomato dishes that were served on pewter,
'cause they'd get lead poisoning.
These are the things I think about while I stir. (laughs)
Oh my gosh, the smell right now is amazing.
All of that tomato really made a big difference.
Now we can add in 28 ounces or a full pound,
of crushed tomatoes.
For a little bit of balance,
I'm adding one tablespoon of granulated sugar.
In you go.
You need to balance the acidity of those tomatoes.
A nice tablespoon of Italian seasoning,
a teaspoon of dried basil,
15 ounces of tomato sauce.
(cans clink)
And one and a half teaspoons of salt.
I would give this a taste,
and adjust the seasonings after everything's come together.
I'm adding three quarters of a teaspoon,
of cracked black pepper.
If you want a little bit more heat,
which my kids don't, but I would.
I would add in like half a teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
But that's up to you.
You're making a delicious meat sauce.
This, by the way, would just be delicious with pasta,
so feel free to add the spices that you love,
and change the saltiness.
Everything, everything.
You could have added some mushrooms,
into here if you wanted to as well.
The world is your oyster.
This has already come to a simmer,
because I've been talking up a storm,
and we've been moving cameras around.
We're gonna reduce it to medium low right now,
and let this simmer away,
for like 25 minutes or so, until it's thickened up.
In the meantime, grab a big pot,
fill it with water salt liberally,
and we're gonna bring it to a boil.
That pasta has to cook.
And I did not make homemade fresh pasta,
for this recipe, but you could.
If you want to, click up here,
for my how to make pasta video.
It is very fun, you can just use those sheets,
and they cook in just a couple minutes.
But today we're using store bought dried pasta.
My sauce has been simmering for a few minutes.
I want to give it a little taste.
Don't burn yourself.
It's nice, it's nice.
You can make it your own.
And today I feel like adding a little bit
of lemon zest just to lift things up.
Totally optional, you do you.
I'm gonna do me. (laughs)
My water's come to a boil.
My sauce is still simmering away.
I'm gonna add my pasta in it.
The recipe probably only needs like 12 or so sheets,
but these are a little short.
They might break, something might happen.
I would just make the whole bunch.
I was grabbing all the ingredients for my cheese sauce,
but the pasta's already ready.
It just took a couple minutes, so I'm taking it off heat.
I want you to see it is just, a really nice al dente.
It's not supposed to be all the way cooked through,
because you're gonna bake this,
and you want the pasta to suck up some of the flavor
from the sauce as well as some of the liquid.
Drain your pasta.
(water splashing)
I'm gonna rinse this with cold water now.
I wanna stop the cooking.
Otherwise it'll just kind of become a big glob,
of stuck together pasta, that's overcooked. (laughs)
You don't want that.
That can hang out.
And now let's whip that cheese sauce up.
Into a large bowl, I'm adding a 15 ounce container,
of beautiful fresh ricotta,
one of my favorite desserts in the summer,
grilled peaches with a ricotta,
sweetened with honey and herbs.
Ah, that's so good.
All right, let's break that up just a little bit.
One large egg cracked right into that.
(egg cracks)
No shells, please.
I would love some herbs in this.
I'm gonna use a generous tablespoon,
of freshly chopped parsley.
(knife chops)
That can go right into my beautiful cheese mixture.
Half a teaspoon of salt,
one quarter teaspoon of cracked black pepper.
(grinder clicking)
Break the egg up and just give it a stir.
If you wanted to, you could add a little bit
more lemon zest into the cheese sauce.
You could add other herbs you love like oregano or basil.
And you know this is gonna come out any way you make it.
Add the things you love.
Okay, my sauce is done, my pasta's cooked,
and the cheese is ready.
Let's assemble this lasagna.
Grab a nine by 13 inch casserole dish.
And I also want 16 ounces of fresh mozzarella sliced.
Now we're gonna get to assembly.
You can lightly grease your pan with olive oil,
or cooking spray if desired.
I actually think it's fine without.
And in the bottom of your pan, we're gonna add two cups,
of this meat sauce, I'm measuring cups by eye.
Spread this into an even layer.
Now we're gonna grab some of our pasta strips,
and lay them out.
You might have the long kind.
These are the short kind,
so you can cut your strips to fit if you need to.
Just like that.
On top of this, we're gonna add some cheese sauce.
We have two layers of cheese sauce.
So divide into two, it's about a cup.
Spread the cheese all over the pasta,
and you can use an offset spatula,
to make it a bit easier, if you want.
Don't worry about it looking perfect.
It's all gonna melt together. (laughs)
So two more cups of meat sauce over the cheese.
Spread that out once more.
Time for the next layer of pasta.
And by the way, this is an excellent make ahead dish.
So you could make one lasagna,
or you could make two lasagnas, probably with that one
package of pasta and freeze one, eat one now.
If you wanna freeze it, it's best if you don't bake it,
so just freeze it after assembly.
And then when you want to have some
delicious homemade lasagna, just go ahead
and pop it into the fridge tonight,
before the thaw and bake it, 375.
Like we're going to right now.
Okay, get the rest of the cheese sauce,
pop that onto your pasta.
(upbeat music)
My cheese sauce is all spread.
We're gonna take the remaining meat sauce,
and divide it into two, half of this for the top,
half for the next layer.
Spread, spread, spread.
One more layer of pasta.
Time to add the rest of the meat sauce right over the pasta.
Spread that out into an even layer.
I was worried that I wasn't dividing things,
well enough but I did a good job.
I have just enough meat sauce to cover the top.
Top this beautiful pie with your slices of fresh mozzarella.
Mm, look at that, look at that,
just right for coverage.
Perfect.
This delicious pie gets finished off,
with a quarter cup of freshly graded Parmesan.
Oh, dear.
That's gonna be golden and amazing on top.
Cover this beauty up with foil.
(foil crinkles)
Into the oven, 375 for half an hour.
Then remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes,
until it's golden and bubbly.
And if you want, heat it up to a broil,
for two to three minutes to really put some color on there.
In you go.
My lasagna is out of the oven bubbling and golden.
But you need to give it 15 minutes to rest.
Otherwise, it's just gonna ooze all over the place.
Once rested, slice into pieces,
and you are ready to enjoy.
Mm.
That's hearty, creamy, cheesy deliciousness.
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.
And if you like this video, check out my dinner playlist.
(upbeat music)