Lasagne for a Crowd
This homemade lasagne recipe fits into a very large roasting pan to serve 25+. I usually make it for a party and then eat and freeze leftovers. Even though this takes some cooking time, it really is easy and stores or freezes very well.
This homemade lasagne recipe fits into a very large roasting pan to serve 25+. I usually make it for a party and then eat and freeze leftovers. Even though this takes some cooking time, it really is easy and stores or freezes very well.
- 3 tsp salt
- 4 large onions diced very small
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 4 cans (1 lb 12 oz) tomato sauce or puree
- 6 cans tomato paste, 6-oz size
- 6 cups water or more if necessary
- 2 tsp pepper
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tsp oregano or more if you like it
- 2 tbls parsley flakes
- 40 cloves garlic; the more the better!! slice very thin. i t
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese or more if you like it
- 3 pounds hamburger
- 1 lb lb. ground pork
- 3 lbs lbs. grated mozzarella
- 3 lbs lbs. lasagne noodles
- 3 lbs lbs. ricotta cheese
- Carbohydrate 46.011926 g
- Cholesterol 170.176 mg
- Fat 43.4586184 g
- Fiber 2.46130796630859 g
- Protein 47.6976228 g
- Saturated Fat 18.1651896 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (371g)
- Sodium 592.23384 mg
- Sugar 43.5506180336914 g
- Trans Fat 4.6731616 g
- Calories 766 calories
Step-by-step
- Make sauce in a VERY large pot or (2) 5 quart sauce pans. Make the sauce in advance as it tastes better after it sits a day or two in the fridge. Also, this shortens the prep time on the baking day. I also bake it the day before and store it in the fridge. It seems to "set" and not be as soft.
- To make the sauce: saute onions, garlic and olive oil over med heat. Saute meat until pink and break up into very small chunks. Combine all ingredients and bring to boil and reduce heat to low and cook for 3+ hours or until you are happy with the consistency. Stir frequently and be careful to keep heat fairly low to prevent burning. Cool and put in fridge.
- Place 6 cups of sauce (or more depending on pan size) on bottom of pan. Then put one layer of noodles, one layer of ricotta spread fairly thin, and finally one layer of grated mozzarella. Repeat this for 3-4 layers. The last (top) ingredient should be lots of sauce. I usually end up with 4 layers. You can stretch this by using more noodles and thinner layers of the other ingredients. Freeze any leftover sauce.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 60-90 minutes (depending on size). Turn off heat and let sit for 20 minutes in the oven and then remove. I like to make this the day before a party and then cool it and store it in the fridge. Reheat it in the oven 1 hour prior to serving.
An ingredient list cannot warn you about the physical weight of four pounds of onions or the precise aromatic threshold that separates translucent alliums from scorched bitterness when rendering thirty-six total cloves of thinly sliced garlic in three-quarters of a cup of olive oil. Building a mass of pasta, ricotta, and red meat requires understanding how moisture distribution dictates structural integrity before the baking pan ever enters a 350-degree oven.
Judging Doneness Without a Probe
Piercing a massive layered casserole with a digital thermometer often yields unreliable readings because pockets of dense ricotta register differently than molten pools of mozzarella. Instead, evaluate the dish by watching the perimeter edges: when the tomato sauce bubbles vigorously with a thick, reduced viscosity and the topmost layer of grated cheese transforms into a deep golden-brown crust with darkened bubbling spots, the internal starches have fully gelatinized. Allowing the pan to rest for twenty minutes inside the turned-off oven lets the internal temperature stabilize and redistribute its liquids, transforming what would otherwise be a sliding structural hazard into clean, distinct wedges that hold their shape on the plate.Preserving Structural Texture
Moisture control remains the single most critical factor preventing a watery disaster when scaling Italian casseroles upward. Simmering the meat and tomato sauce for three hours or more drives off excess water content from the canned purees, ensuring that the dry pasta sheets absorb flavorful fats rather than turning into soggy paste during the ninety-minute bake. Preparing the entire assembly twenty-four hours in advance allows the starches in the noodles to fully hydrate and set within the refrigerator, resulting in a firmer slice that maintains clean architectural layers upon reheating.
