Lasagna, Meatballs, and Sauce (oh my!)
 

This is three recipes. The first makes meatballs, the second sauce, with enough meatballs and sausage for lasagna and leftovers. The third is the actual lasagna.

Meatballs:

[1] 1lb ground beef
[2] 1 egg
[3] salt/pepper
[4] a palmful of grated pecorino romano (yes, the good stuff)
[5] dried parsley
[6] a fistful of breadcrumbs softened in milk

Mix it all up, make meatballs a little bigger than a golf ball.

Sauce:

[1] meatballs
[2] 5 sweet italian sausages (can use 6 or 4 but Publix sells them at the meat case in packages of 5), each cut in half.
[3] 3 small cans tomato paste + 3 cans of water
[4] 1 large can pureed tomatoes + 2 cans water

Brown meatballs and sausages in a LARGE (six quarts) pot. Make sure they're browned on all sides. Do NOT add oil. Set meat aside.

Scrape all the fat and the "stuff" stuck to the bottom of the saucepan to make sure it's all loose. Mix with tomato paste. Add pureed tomatoes, water, and meat. Stir and bring to a boil.

Simmer 3-4 hours until reduced and thickened around the same consistency as a thin pancake batter.

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Lasagna:

Large aluminum foil lasagna pan (14x10 or thereabouts, heavy duty or doubled)
1 pkg soft lasagna noodles (you get this from the refrigerator section of the supermarket near the ricotta cheese, NOT from a box in an aisle)
1 large container ricotta
1 small container ricotta
1/2 pound (8 oz) mozzarella (part skim or whole, either is fine)
sauce and meat from the top half of this post
grated pecorino romano cheese

Layer in order:

[1] Sauce
[2] noodles
[3] ricotta in spoonsful
[4] sliced meatballs and sliced sausage
[5] sliced mozz
[6] grated romano.

Repeat the layering.

Top with sauce and more romano.

Bake UNcovered in oven: 350° +/- 45 minutes

Lasagna serves 8
Leftover meatballs and sausage serves 2
Leftover sauce serves 2 (leftover meatballs and sausage) plus enough for 6-8 more meals.

Darn I wish you could come cook for the parents. My cooking it not too good.

Add a little sugar and garlic paste and other spices to the sauce. My wife uses ground lamb instead of hamburger. Adds a nice flavor. She just made a batch the day before yesterday. Had to make room in the freezer.

I like the tomato sauce to have a taste of tartness. If you put in enough sugar for it to make any difference at all, then the difference will be a loss of that tartness. Plus - the recipe calls for no sugar. It's a family recipe, not something off a website or out of a cookbook.

I would never use garlic paste for anything, ever. I use either fresh garlic, or garlic salt (depending on what I'm cooking). But mostly fresh garlic.