Hi everyone, its Natasha of NatashasKitchen.com and today we're making our favorite three cheese lasagna.
This is so saucy, beefy and cheesy. Plus it's easy and better than any restaurant
lasagna. We'll start with the pasta. Place nine lasagna noodles into a pot of
salted water and cook until al dente according to the package instructions.
Al dente means - firm to the bite and don't overcook your noodles because they
will still soften up a bit when you bake the lasagna. Drain the noodles, then add
cold water to stop the cooking process and to keep them from sticking together.
Usually, while the noodles are cooking, I'll make the meat sauce. In a deep pan,
over medium-high heat, add one tablespoon of olive oil, then one pound of ground
beef and 1 small diced onion. Saute for 5 minutes or until the meat is no longer
pink. Add two large minced garlic cloves and cook another minute or until
fragrant, then add 1/4 cup of good red wine and saute until mostly evaporated.
And if you don't have red wine on hand, you can substitute with beef broth. Now
add 24 ounces or 3 cups of your favorite marinara sauce, either homemade or
store-bought. Season with half a teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper,
1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme, half a teaspoon of sugar and two tablespoons of
parsley, Bring that to a simmer, then cover and cook on low heat for 5 minutes
while you make your cheese sauce. In a large mixing bowl combine 16 ounces of
cottage cheese, 15 ounces of ricotta cheese, 1 cup of shredded mozzarella, 1
large egg and 2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley. Mix until it's well
blended. Everything's ready and now we can assemble the lasagna. In a deep 9 by
13 casserole dish spread half a cup of the meat sauce evenly over the bottom
and cover that with three lasagna noodles. Now add 1/3 of the remaining
meat sauce and sprinkle the top with one cup of mozzarella cheese. Next spoon on half of the cheese sauce
and spread evenly. Repeat the process until you have three layers of noodles.
This is a good time to pre-heat your oven to 375˚F. Top the
last layer of noodles with the remaining meat sauce and cover it with one cup of
shredded mozzarella cheese. Adding the cheese on top forms a crust that makes
this lasagna supremely juicy. You'll need to cover and bake this casserole so
prepare a large sheet of foil. Also very important to keep the cheese from
sticking to the foil, poke eight to ten toothpicks evenly over the top of the
lasagna, then loosely cover with the foil and seal the edges. Bake at 375˚F for 45 minutes, then remove the foil and set the oven to broil for
three to five minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. Now for the
hardest part, you want to let the lasagne cool for 30 minutes in the pan for it to
set and become much easier to slice and it is hard to wait for lasagna... All right,
you're supposed to wait about thirty minutes for this to rest so that you
don't eat it when it's blazing hot, but I just can't wait anymore so I'm gonna get
this party started because I cannot resist a cheesy juicy loaded lasagna and
of course take out the toothpicks. Do your family a favor and don't leave the
toothpicks in. That would result in unpleasant situations. Oh man!... A little
bit of meat sauce on that one. Wow! Okay and you all know how I feel
about garnish so we're gonna add some garnish to this. Just a little bit of
fresh parsley, cuz there's fresh parsley inside, there
should be fresh parsley on top. You know what I'm talking about,
especially if you're serving this for the holidays. It's like the easiest thing
you can do to fancy up a dish. Okay now, we've got it. Okay, I'm gonna cut into
this because I am so hungry for it so here we go. And this is irresistible,
cheesy, which means my kids love it of course. Okay, we're gonna get the biggest
piece because that is how we roll. Look at that cheese pull! Oh, hubba-hubba... hmm... Oh my goodness! Look at
those layers. This is a loaded lasagna. Yum yum... Okay, here we go.
Enough chatter, less talk and more eating. I'm not exaggerating when I say it, but that
is the best lasagna that I have ever tried it!
It beats restaurant versions all day long because it is so juicy and moist
and the flavor - mmm... I mean, you just cannot beat a homemade lasagna. This is
delicious and it refrigerates and freezes as well so you can make it ahead, because
it makes a big old batch. This is definitely a family favorite and a
keeper of a recipe. I make this over and over and over, because everybody loves it.
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