Lasagna, My Way
December 19, 2021 | By Jeremy Scheck | 7 Comments
Lasagna, My Way
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef (can be lean)
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Red pepper flakes, to taste
- 24oz jar good quality marinara sauce (I use Rao's)
- 1/2 cup water (fill the empty marinara sauce jar)
- 15oz whole milk ricotta
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
- 2/3 cup sliced fresh basil
- 18oz fresh lasagna sheets (I buy from Wegman's)
- 16 oz fresh mozzarella, cut into thin pieces, and broken up into chunks
- Freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese to taste
Notes
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the ground beef and sear on one side before breaking it up with a spoon and continuing to brown. Season the meat with kosher salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and ground oregano. Go easy on the salt -- the cheese and sauce have their own salt.
When the meat is all the way cooked through, pour over the marinara sauce. Then fill the jar with 1/2 cup water, shake it up, and add to the skillet. Simmer on low, uncovered for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix together the ricotta, the zest of your lemon, the pecorino romano cheese, and basil. Add lots of freshly ground black pepper; set aside.
Let the meat cool off a bit before assembling.
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
I like to use a 8x10" dish, but you can cut the lasagna sheets to fit your pan. Layer the lasagna, starting with a little bit of sauce at the bottom, then the pasta, then more sauce, then ricotta, broken up mozzarella pieces, then more pasta, sauce, repeat. On the last layer, generously grate parmigiano reggiano.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake 30 mins covered, then remove the foil and bake 20 more minutes, or until bubbling and golden brown. Let cool 10 mins before cutting.
Jeremy Scheck spent high school perfecting his signature cupcakes, making quiches and coffee cake by the dozen at a local bakery, and teaching cooking demonstrations at Williams-Sonoma. As a 10th grader in 2016, he began documenting his favorite recipes on a blog called The After School Bakery. In college, Jeremy learned to make 50 gallons of ice cream in the food science lab, how to prune grape vines in the teaching vineyard, the best way to milk a cow in Northern Italy, and why film photography is an art worth saving. As a sophomore in 2020, he traded blog photos for video and became a TikTok culinary sensation. Jeremy has been featured on the Today show, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, BBC Radio, People, and Access Hollywood, among others. Jeremy is a graduate of Cornell University with a double major in Spanish and Italian, and significant coursework in food science. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. Learn more about Jeremy.
I subbed ground beef for a plant-based alternative. This recipe is fantastic, and the end-product was delicious!
This was absolutely delicious. Best method I’ve ever used. Have done béchamel in the past but it’s just too heavy and messy… the ricotta/pecorino/basil combo is just magic. Thank you for an excellent recipe and inspirational video to make me want to make this for Christmas night!
do you have any recommendations to increase the recipe to fit in a 9 x 13 pan instead of a 8 x 10??
I was hoping to make this Friday night for a large crowd
Well, a 9×13 pan is about 50% larger than an 8×10 pan (assuming equal depth), so just increase all the ingredients by 50%. Exact amounts aren’t important in this recipe, so just keep layering ingredients until you fill up the pan or until everything is used up, whichever comes first!
Loved this take on homemade lasagna! The lemon zest was a gamechanger for me. This was an easy take on a classic – loved it and fed us for days with the leftovers!
This was really easy to make and was so good. I also really liked that most of the time spent was down time, waiting for things to cook so I could have everything cleaned up before we ate
I just made this . Followed the exact recipe and it was AMAZING ! My fiancé had two plates. I cannot wait to make this for the rest of my family. Scheck your the best !!!!!