This is a formal invitation to throw a lasagna dinner party. Delegate the side dishes, drinks and desserts to your friends and family — we suggest Ina Garten's garlic bread and a bright, fresh tomato basil salad as accompaniments — and you take care of the star of the meal. Lasagna is infinitely customizable, so no matter how picky your crowd, there will be a way to satisfy them with this wonderful dish.
Here are our six tips for making the best lasagna of your life:
1. Make your own tomato sauce. It's so simple and knocks bottled tomato sauce out of the park. Here's a simple, fantastic recipe from Food Republic.
2. Mix a few types of meat into your sauce. Ground beef mixed with ground pork is great, but if you add in some spicy Italian sausage, you'll be on cloud nine.
3. Bechamel sauce is your friend. Many lasagnas from Europe are made without ricotta cheese, using bechamel sauce instead. We think that using a bit of both is best. The ricotta stays in place in its designated layer, and the bechamel gets creamy in the oven and mixes with your bright, savory tomato sauce. If you're not yet acquainted with the power of bechamel, Mario Batali has a great recipe on Food Network.
4. If you're using ricotta cheese, season it! Ricotta starts out pretty tasteless, so if you don't season it, it'll just make your whole lasagna a little bland. Add a generous pinch of salt or two, a small pinch of pepper, some dried chili flakes and some thinly-sliced basil. Taste it, and keep seasoning until you're tempted to forget the lasagna and just eat your bowl of ricotta.
5. Don't skimp on the mozzarella. Stringy, melty mozzarella is crucial for any great lasagna. You don't have to buy the fanciest kind, just buy a lot of it. Abundant melted mozzarella in the layers of the lasagna is key, and the bubbling, browning top layer of cheese is everyone's favorite part.
6. Keep the veggies to a minimum, says Epicurious. Spinach is great, thinly sliced onion is good too, but big chunks of soggy veggies disrupt the layers. Also, no one ever cut into a lasagna hoping for abundant vegetables. That's not why we're here.
There are thousands of recipes for lasagna, so Google a few, read them through, pick and choose what you like from each one, and go off the book. Lasagna is incredibly forgiving, so even if it's your first time making it, you will undoubtedly be thrilled with the result!
