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The Old Italian Lasagna Recipe

Written by Published on Updated on November 3, 2022 in Uncategorized

I thought I would leave the Greek Cuisine this time around and share this very old delicious Italian Lasanga Recipe, that was given to my mother from her Italian friend Maria many many many moons ago. Our next door neighbors in the states was this wonderful and very happy Italian family.  The mother’s name was Maria, can’t remember what the father’s name was and the son’s name was Rosario.  

As children growing up in the states, most of the time we would play outside, on the street along with the other kids on our block and so did Rosario.  Every afternoon/evening a little before 6, Maria would come out yelling  “Rosario Manga” hahahaha till this day I still remember how Rosario would respond with “Mama ooohhhh” he would say something in Italian, stomp his feet, cross his arms, and then he would start running so that he would not have to go in and eat.  Maria would then become furious and start yelling in Italian and of course then come running after him.  

My mother and Maria became very good friends, we lived next to each other for so many years, they would exchange recipes, go shopping together, help each other out in the gardens, just being there for one another. What was really unbelievable was that neither one of these two ladies spoke good English, one Italian and the other Greek, and yet they communicated in their own little way.  I found that to be amazing!!!  

One of the recipe’s that was loved by everyone on our block was Maria’s famous Lasagna dish.  Whenever Maria made this dish, you could smell it around the block…she would always give everyone a small piece because she knew everyone loved it!!.  This recipe was originally passed on to Maria from her mother, and she was nice enough to give the recipe to my mother.   It has been in our family for many many years, and now I would like to share Maria’s recipe with you.  🙂

THE OLD ITALIAN LASAGNA RECIPE

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Ingredients
  

  • 2 packages Lasagna Pasta Sheets
  • 10 Italian Sausages cut into small pieces
  • 1 kilo Ground Beef / 2 lbs. Ground Beef
  • 5 Fresh Tomatoes grated
  • 2 tablespoons Tomato paste
  • 4 tablespoons Oregano
  • 1 cup Olive Oil
  • 4 large pieces Mozzarella
  • 3 packages Ricotta Cheese
  • 3 tablespoons Sugar
  • 1 Cinnamon stick
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 3 cups Water

Instructions
 

  • In a large sauce pan add in half a cup of the Olive Oil, sausages, and ground beef. Once the meat has turned brown add in the fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons oregano, salt, sugar, pepper, cinnamon stick, 3 cups of water and let boil on low heat for about 2 hrs.
  • When the sauce is ready, add into the baking pan a scoop of sauce, and start layering in the Lasagna sheets. (I don’t have a large enough square baking pan, so I used a round one) Add in a large scoop of the sauce with sausages, and ground beef, top with the mozzarella and ricotta cheese. Continue layering with the Lasagna sheets, and until all the ingredients have finished.
  • I just wanted to mention back in those days, Lasagne sheets did not exist, both Maria and my mom used regular boiled pasta.
  • Finish topping with the leftover Olive Oil….and Oregano
  • Pop into the oven, and bake at 180 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. I hope you enjoy making and eating this recipe as much as my mom and I have been doing for so many years.

Tags

Welcome to a small corner of my Greek Heritage. Growing up in New York from Greek parents, was a challenge of its own...but the traditional food, tastes and aromas that my mother cooked always travelled me back to Greece. My mother is a wonderful cook, our house would always have that smell of home cooked food. I remember very clearly that we were only allowed fast food, once a week, that was a huge day for myself and my brother. Jumping up and down in the back car seat, laughing, just being kids. It is true that we all like to eat different foods, taste, smell, even try food that looks different than our regular meals at home and I think that is so natural. In my teens, I was not really into cooking, I enjoyed my magazines after school, listening to music, and just taking a breather. There were times that I would glance at some of my mom's recipes, more out of curiosity than to actually try to cook them. At that time I did not realise that cooking would become my passion one day. Slowly, I would start to look into my mom's recipes a bit more each day and I started to find it interesting as a hobby. Each month I would go into our neighborhood bookstore and pick up my monthly book, until one day I decided to stroll over into the cooking section. That summer was the first time I actually bought a cooking magazine....and I loved it. Cooking and baking started out as a hobby, but now after many years it is my passion. Exploring the cuisines, the spices, the oils, the scents, the variety of smells and tastes that exist. It was and still is an amazing journey without limits. So, come along with me on this adventure, and I hope you enjoy my recipes. Sophie

12 Comments

  1. dtills
    May 12, 2017 at 2:37 pm  ·  Reply

    Love, love, love lasagna- I did a post on one myself. This one looks great! I have not forgotten your cookie recipe either! I have to make a cake for mother’s day but I am going to make your cookies for our road trip to Smith Rocks next week. Any idea how many cookies I should get from your recipe? Or what size I should shoot for when forming them?
    Can’t wait to try them 🙂

    • foodzesty
      May 12, 2017 at 4:01 pm  ·  Reply

      Hi dee dee, I will look into your Lasagna recipe.
      I love Lasagna too….there are so many recipes that I want to try, but I am having difficulty finding the ingredients in the Netherlands. I saw this recipe from another food blogger, she posted a fish pie, still cant find a decent fish to make this pie. This batter should make about 30 cookies, but there is no rush to make them….The size hmmm, maybe you should try to shoot for the size you made those wonderful breads you posted. 🙂

  2. preppypinkpiglet
    June 22, 2017 at 7:00 pm  ·  Reply

    This looks absolutely delicious 😋💕

  3. FrugalHausfrau
    July 27, 2017 at 9:30 pm  ·  Reply

    I love trying different lasagna recipes! I’m pinning this for later. It sounds (and looks) amazing!

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