Ground Beef & Pork Lasagna (my best lasagna so far)

Another great recipe from the Italian cuisine… although I must admit this version of Lasagna is more delicious than my other recipe for Lasagna with Chicken and Mushrooms. At least hubby was much more impressed with this one :). It’s not exactly the traditional Italian recipe as I’ve decided to combine ground beef and pork while Italians usually make it using beef only. We really enjoyed the way it turned out so I highly recommend it!

Time: 70 min, Prep: 20 min.  Cook: 50 min.
Servings: 6-8    

Ingredients:

• 1 kg ground meat (I used beef & pork combined but if you prefer you can use just beef)
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• 1 big can diced tomatoes (~800ml)
• 3 Tbsp tomato paste
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 3 Tbsp freshly chopped parsley
• 750 g cottage cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 150 g grated parmesan cheese
• 400 g grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Finely chop onion and mince garlic. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the onions and garlic. Cook for about 4 minutes.

Then add the ground meat and cook over medium-high heat until browned. Stir in diced tomatoes.

Add tomato paste, oregano and basil, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer over medium-low heat for about 25 minutes.

You can precook lasagna noodles in boiling water for about 5 minutes or just use them raw. If you precook them it will reduce the baking time a little.  I’ve used the raw noodles this time.

In a large bowl combine cottage cheese, parsley, half of the parmesan cheese and the two beaten eggs. Season with salt.

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).

To assemble, arrange lasagna sheets in a 23 x 33 x 5 cm (9 x 13 x 2-inch) baking dish. Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles and sprinkle half of the mozzarella cheese. Spoon almost half of the meat mixture over the top. Repeat layers, ending with the meat sauce. Top with the remaining parmesan cheese.

Place in the oven and let it bake for 25 minutes.