Ingredients
Sauce:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb pork shoulder or spare ribs
1 lb veal shoulder chop or lamb shank
1 lb italian sausage (can also use chicken sausage)
6 garlic cloves
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 28oz cans whole peeled tomatoes (I’ve also used fresh diced tomatoes)
2 cups water
salt
pepper
6 fresh basil leaves
Meatballs:
1 lb ground beef (can also mix meats, like pork and beef)
1/2 fine bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2c grated pecorino-romano cheese
1 tsp salt
pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
Lasagne:
10-12 strips of FRESH lasagne pasta
salt
2 lbs (32oz) ricotta
1 lb thinly sliced fresh mozzarella
1.5c grated pecorino-romano cheese
Preparation
Sauce: Put tomatoes with juices in a food processor and pulse until chopped. For runny sauce, puree the tomatoes. For chunkier sauce, a few pulses is all you’ll need.
In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat, brown the pork, veal/lamb, and sausages on all sides, transfer to a plate. Add the garlic to the pot, cook 1 min, add the tomato paste and stir 1 min. Add tomatoes and the water. Season with salt and pepper. Add the pork, veal/lamb, and sausages and basil and bring to a simmer. Partially cover and cook over LOW heat 2 hours, stirring occasionally. You can add more water if it gets too thick. While the sauce is cooking, make the meatballs.
Meatballs: Combine all ingredients (except oil) in a large bowl, mix with your hands. Rinse your hands with cold water and form into SMALL balls, no bigger than a grape. Keep hands wet to prevent sticking. Heat the oil in a skillet and brown meatballs on all sides and transfer to a plate. When sauce is done, add the meatballs and cook 30min more. Remove all meat, including meatballs from the pasta. This is a pain, but necessary. Slice the sausages thinly, chop the pork into small pieces and mix with sausages.
Lasagne: Preheat oven to 350
Cook pasta according to directions (usually cook in boiling water 1 min, rinse in ice cold water, lay out on paper towels). Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a lasagne pan. Make a single layer of pasta, overlapping the strips. You will have to cut the strips to fit the pan. Spread 1/4 of the ricotta over the pasta, scatter 1/4 of the meatballs and sausage/pork, then 1/4 of the mozzarella. Spoon 1c of the sauce over and sprinkle with romano cheese.
Repeat these layers 3 more times. Make a final layer of pasta, sauce and grated cheese.
Bake 1 hr 30 min, until bubbly and top is browned. Check at 60min, if top is browing too fast, cover with foil.
