Easy Lasagna -- The Night We Sent Our Son to Italy in Our Hearts

Summer 2020 and the world is gradually, cautiously, partially reopening. The workshops resumed in a different form: outdoor sessions in the community center parking lot, participants stationed six feet apart with their own equipment, the kitchen principles taught from a safe distance with demonstration and careful instruction. It's not ideal. It works.

The channel is at 215,000. I've kept the daily posting pace up for three months and I'm starting to feel the edge of it — not burnout exactly, but the thinning of the creative reserves. I talked to Gary about scaling back to four videos a week and he said yes without hesitation. "Quality over quantity," he said, "you've always known that." He's right. I let the daily pace go and immediately felt the quality of the remaining videos improve.

Ethan received his mission call. He's going to the Italy Rome Mission. I'm going to sit with that for a moment: Italy. He'll speak Italian in doorways and eat in Italian kitchens and come home in two years with a fluency in a language and a culture that I think will feed him for the rest of his life. Italy, where the food is a philosophy as much as a practice. My food-critic-in-costume son is going to Italy. Of course he is.

He reported his call to the family at dinner on Sunday. Noah immediately said, "Can you bring us pasta?" Ethan said he'd try. I made carbonara that evening because it felt right — eggs and guanciale and cheese and black pepper, one of the pure perfect things, Italian to its core. We ate it together and laughed about the timing and I thought: yes. Italy is exactly where he's supposed to go.

Carbonara was the spontaneous choice that Sunday evening, but lasagna is what I keep coming back to when I think about Ethan and Italy and the long, layered life ahead of him — because lasagna is patience and abundance built into a single dish, which feels exactly right for a kid who has always savored every bite. This easy lasagna is the one I’ll make when he calls from Rome, when he comes home, when we sit back down together and celebrate all the ground he’s covered. It’s Italian to its core, feeds a crowd, and tastes like something you planned with love even when you threw it together on a weeknight.

Easy Lasagna

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 55 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes | Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (85% lean)
• 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jar (24 oz) marinara sauce
• 1 can (14.5 oz) crushed tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 15 oz whole-milk ricotta cheese
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 12 lasagna noodles, cooked al dente and drained
• 3 cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
2. Build the meat sauce. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef and Italian sausage, breaking them up as they brown, about 8 minutes. Drain excess fat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Pour in the marinara and crushed tomatoes, then add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes if using. Simmer on low for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Mix the ricotta filling. In a medium bowl, stir together the ricotta, eggs, parsley, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper until smooth and well combined.
4. Layer the lasagna. Spread a thin layer of meat sauce on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Lay 3 noodles over the sauce. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over the noodles, then top with 1/4 of the remaining meat sauce, 3/4 cup mozzarella, and a light sprinkle of Parmesan. Repeat these layers two more times. Finish with the last 3 noodles, the remaining meat sauce, the rest of the mozzarella, and the remaining Parmesan.
5. Cover and bake. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil (spray the underside with cooking spray to prevent sticking) and bake for 35 minutes.
6. Uncover and brown. Remove the foil and bake an additional 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted, bubbling, and lightly golden at the edges.
7. Rest before serving. Let the lasagna rest uncovered for at least 15 minutes before slicing. This helps the layers hold together and makes serving much cleaner. Garnish with extra parsley if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 520 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 26g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 890mg