The Best Meat Lasagna

I make this every year for my dad's birthday, he also asks me at the end of the summer to make this as a dinner for his employees.  For that I usually double the recipe since I need to feed about 30 people.  Everyone goes nuts over this recipe.  It has taken me years to perfect it and really I think it is a combination of the noodle layering, cooking the meat in the sauce and the balance of flavors.  When I first got married, my husband loved lasagna and I would use no boil because it was a lot of work to get a lasagna on the table on a weeknight.  Once I switched to regular noodles that i had to boil I realized it would be better to only make this when I had time on the weekend. The right noodles make a world of difference.!

Ingredients:

1 package of lasagna noodles (do NOT use no boil)

1 lb of ground beef

4 sweet italian sausage links (no fennel)

6 1/2 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce

1 15 oz container of whole milk ricotta

1/2 cup of flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 egg

1 cup of shredded parmesan

5 cups of shredded whole milk mozzarella

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Pre heat oven to 375.  Put water for noodles on to boil in a large pot, salt the water.  Heat a separate large pot over medium heat and add meat.  Break up well and the meat and cook until no pink is left but do not brown, season with salt and pepper.  Add sauce to the pot and simmer while you boil the noodles.  Mix ricotta with egg and parsley.  Season with salt and paper.  Add in 1/2 cup of parmesan and 1 cup of mozzarella and mix thoroughly.  

Drain noodles and place on a large baking sheet.  Coat noodles with olive oil to prevent sticking while allowing to cool. In a an 11X15 deep dish baking dish, swirl a small amount of sauce and place a layer of noodles. Noodles should be layered across the width for the bottom layer.  Spread 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture across the noodles.  Ladle meat sauce over to cover and then sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella on top.  Put the the next layer of noodles in this time lengthwise and and layer on the ricotta cheese mixture, sauce and cheese as you did in the previous step.  Continue, alternating direction of the noodles until you have used them all.  This should create 4 layers, the top of which should NOT have the ricotta mixture. End with cheese and cover with foil loosely.  Placee in the oven with a drip pan underneath.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan.  Increase heat of oven to 400 and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes until the cheese on top is golden brown.  Allow to rest of 10 minutes before cutting.  Serve with garlic bread and salad.