Mimi's Lasagna

This recipe is from Mimi Sokol. Over the years George has extorted poor Mimi countless times into cooking her world-famous lasagna for him.

• 8 oz lasagna (about 12 noodles)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ lb ground beef
½ lb ground pork
½ lb sweet Italian sausage links, with the sausage meat squeezed out of the link skins and skins discarded
½ clove minced or pressed garlic
• 1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp dried oregano leaves or powder
• ½ tsp dried sweet basil leaves or powder
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 x 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 x 15 oz can tomato sauce, plain, I use Ragu original meat flavored spagetti sauce
• ½ cup water
• 1 x 16 oz container ricotta cheese
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅛ tsp black pepper
• 1 lb. mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese, (plus a little extra parmesan cheese, grated, if you want to sprinkle some on top of dish and brown at the very end)

Heat oil in large skillet over moderately high heat. Add ground meats and cook, stirring frequently, till browned. (actually they can still be a little reddish in color when you take them off the heat). Drain off excess fat, stir in garlic mush, 1 tbsp parsley flakes, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp oregano, ½ tsp basil, ½ tsp sugar, tomato paste, and tomato sauce, and ½ cup water. Bring to a boil -- then reduce heat to low and simmer with cover opened just a little bit to one side at low simmer about 30 minutes or so.
Preheat oven to 375°.
In a small bowl combine ricotta cheese, egg, 1 tbsp parsley, ½ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp pepper, and ¼ of the sliced mozzarella finely diced. Pour enough of the meat/tomato sauce into a shallow 2 quart lasagna baking dish to just cover the bottom. Then add layers of ⅓ of the noodles, ⅓ of the ricotta cheese mix, ⅓ of the grated parmesan cheese, ⅓ of the remaining mozzarella slices, and ⅓ of the remaining tomato/meat sauce. Repeat these layers twice more, ending with the last ⅓ of the tomato/meat sauce on the top.
Bake covered with foil 25 minutes roughly or until the sauce is hot and bubbly and the cheeses are melted. Remove cover and bake 5 minutes more, or just enough more to brown top --here you can add a little extra Parmesan cheese to top of dish before you brown the uncovered lasagna, making sure parmesan cheese doesn’t burn -- makes a better appearance if you want. Allow lasagna to stand 5 minutes before cutting squares -- makes 6-8 servings.
Lasagna may be prepared the night before to the point where sauces and cheeses are placed in layers in the lasagna pan and then refrigerated and baked the next day -- but then you must allow for more baking time -- at least 45 minutes, covered, and then 5 minutes or so uncovered. Again, you can tell it’s ready when sauce is hot and bubbly and cheeses are melted.