Long live Shirley’s Lasagna
Lasagna is one of those dishes that fall into the category of “My mom makes the best (fill in the blank)” and we tend not to veer too far from what we’re used to. A few months back I came across an article on The Kitchn that tested “4 famous lasagna recipes” from Giada de Laurentiis, Ina Garten, All Recipes and Martha Stewart. All four are classified as “Italian-American,” which according to the author means dry noodles, a simple meat sauce or marinara, and multiple types of cheese instead of béchamel. (Traditional “Italian” lasagna typically is made up of fresh pasta, Bolognese sauce and béchamel.) I thought, huh, I wonder how these lasagnas stack up to my mom’s. After all, our family’s lasagna is the most famous. Well, famous in our family at least. I have three sisters and one brother. While my mom has “retired” from making lasagna, all of us girls use her recipe. And my brother? He’s the number one benefactor of all this lasagna. He never met a (sister’s) lasagna he didn’t like. Or at least he’s smart enough not to say. This all got me thinking and led me to ask my mom, Shirley, about the origin of her recipe.
It was a quick investigation. Turns out that her recipe that was handwritten on five 3x5 index cards came from my dad’s German side of the family. His brother’s daughter (my cousin) shared it with my mom. I talked to my cousins and was delighted to find out that this recipe is still their go-to-lasagna as well. Somehow there’s comfort in having that connection. The story goes that back in 1967 when my cousin’s husband was in the Army stationed in Fort Eustis, Va., one of his buddy’s wives gave her the recipe. She happened to be of Polish descent. So, it looks like Shirley’s lasagna may be Italian-Polish-German-American. But we’ll just call it Shirley’s.
Lasagna, lasagna, don’t get any onya!
Our family lasagna is made up of 11 layers including dry noodles, a (not-so-simple) tomato-based sauce full of beef and Italian sausage, three cheeses (mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan) plus what we always called a “white sauce.” I learned through writing this that while we all use the same recipe, we all make it our own with the difference being in how we make the tomato meat sauce. Even my mom’s written recipe is not exactly how she made it through the years. Somewhere along the way she increased the amount of sausage in my cousin’s recipe, and tomato sauce and salt were added. Some of us definitely like it saucier than others. We don’t all agree on how much salt to use. One of my sisters has an abundant tomato garden so all her tomato products are her own. I think taking the time to make all the layers, using high quality cheeses and the white sauce make it a delicious work of art. Here’s the way I make it:
Shirley’s Lasagna
Main Ingredients:
Tomato Meat Sauce
1 lb. Mozzarella Cheese, grated
16 oz. Ricotta Cheese
Fresh Parmesan Cheese (about 1 ½ cups grated)
Lasagna Noodles (1 1b. box)
White Sauce (béchamel)
Tomato Meat Sauce Ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil (optional)
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 lb. lean ground beef
1 lb. Italian Sausage (sweet, spicy or a mix all work)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 cans (6 oz) tomato paste
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce (If you like it saucy, by all means use another can or two of tomato sauce)
1 tablespoon salt (My sisters use 1 tsp, but I’ve always used 1 Tbsp of Kosher salt and it is not too salty!)
1 ½ tsp black pepper
1 heaping teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon dried basil (feel free to use fresh if you have it)
Optional: Red pepper flakes, parsley
Cream Sauce Ingredients:
¼ cup butter or margarine
¼ cup flour
2 cups milk
Directions
Tomato meat sauce:
In a skillet, heat oil. Add onion, ground beef and Italian sausage. Cook over medium heat until meat is brown. (I often cook the sausage separately, just because it’s a lot of meat for my pan.) Transfer to a 5-quart saucepan or Dutch oven. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 1-2 hours covered. Then uncover and continue simmering for 30 minutes to an hour until sauce is desired consistency. Remove bay leaf.
White Sauce:
In a sauce pan over low heat, melt butter, stir in flour. Add milk and cook, stirring constantly until sauce thickens.
Step by step assembly instructions:
1. Place 1/3 meat sauce in pan
2. Cover with 1 layer of noodles
3. Cover with 1/3 meat sauce
4. Cover meat sauce with Parmesan cheese
5. Add layer of noodles
6. Place grated Mozzarella cheese on noodles
7. Spread warm white sauce over Mozzarella cheese
8. Add layer of noodles
9. Spread Ricotta cheese over noodles
10. Cover with rest of meat sauce
11. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over meat sauce until covered
Bake at 375° F for 30-40 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.
Our family lasagna—hot out of the oven.
Notes:
You can make the meat sauce and the white sauce a day or two before. But you’ll want the white sauce to be warm for assembly. The meat sauce is fine to use cold.
You can make the lasagna up to two days before baking. It also freezes wonderfully.
The recipe yields one flavor-packed 9”x13” pan of lasagna — but you really need a pan with deep sides so it doesn’t bubble over in the oven. I have a 10’x15” pyrex pan that I like to use. I often build the lasagna in two 8x8 or 9x9 inch pans and freeze one. I’ve also dividied it up into foil pans for freezing and gifting.
If you make it ahead and are starting from a cold lasagna, allow 30 minutes or more for your lasagna to come to room temperature and be forewarned that you may need extra baking time.
I have used both freshly grated Parmesan and the version that comes in the green can. Honestly don’t think it makes that much difference. I’ve also substituted cottage cheese for the ricotta, but we like ricotta better.
I like my lasagna with a little zing and a zang, so use spicy Italian sausage or add red pepper flakes.
This would be even tastier with fresh pasta but I’ve never attempted homemade pasta! I’ve been looking for a local resource to buy fresh pasta sheets.
Making lasagna memories
Over the years we’ve celebrated numerous holidays and special events with lasagna and made lots of lasagna memories that will live on. One story that has been told over and over is the first time I brought my boyfriend, now my husband, to my parents for dinner. My mom made lasagna. Being a college kid who didn’t get good food often, he ate and ate and ate. I think he may have been afraid to say no when my mom kept offering more and so he ate so much he made himself sick. Guess he couldn’t see back then that, with me, he had a lifetime of lasagna ahead of him.
A couple of my favorite more-recent lasagna memories actually involve “other” lasagnas. During the summer of 2019 in Steamboat, Colo., my husband’s cousin made lasagna for a family reunion of 30. Her lasagna was “almost” as good as Shirley’s Lasagna. Of course the company made it taste that much better! Then, in late April of last year, when my daughter was staying with us during the pandemic, she and I joined Samin Nosrat and made #TheBigLasagna. This was so much fun. Love Samin. Her lasagna recipe is vegetarian and includes spinach and lots of creamy cheesy yumminess. I loved her béchamel sauce. I think if I’d known how to make fresh pasta, her recipe may have tipped the scale.
Memories I’d still like to make are enjoying lasagna from two Italian-American cooks.
One is Dan Pelosi. His recipe interestingly uses goat cheese and mint. Very intriguing. But mostly it’s the enthusiasm that goes into his cooking that I want to experience. (Side note, I couldn’t resist buying what he calls “The L Word Tee” (Live. Laugh.Lasagna.) for my lasagna-loving brother.)
The other is my my dear friend and sorority sister who comes from an Italian family. They traditionally make lasagna for Christmas. I asked her about her recipe and she shared that they use the secret family spaghetti sauce, which is a meat sauce with 1 lb ground pork and 1 ½ lbs ground beef. She layers sauce, noodles, corn, cottage cheese or ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Then they top it with homemade (secret) meatballs. All these years, I’ve never tasted her lasagna. But one thing I know. It’s bound to be good—because her mom’s name is also Shirley.
Look at those meatballs swimming in all that cheesy, tomato-ey gooeyness. Heaven.