Mediterranean Delights
Meatballs and Tomato Sauce:
1 lb ground beef
1 cup Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup water
Noodles and cheese:
1 tsp salt
12 lasagna noodles
1 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 1/2 cups Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet , or spray with vegetable oil spray. Prepare meatballs. Mix beef, the 1 cup cheese, bread crumbs, eggs, 5 Tablespoons of parsley, 1 tsp salt, and dash of pepper. Mix with fork until well blended. Take a very small amount of the meat mixture, about the size of a grape and form into a meatball and place on baking sheet. Make same size meatballs from the entire mixture.
2. Bake meatballs just about 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and drain on paper towels.
3. In the mean time, while the meatballs are cooking, prepare the sauce. Saute the garlic in heated oil in a saucepan for a couple minutes. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and water. Lower heat and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Cook the lasagna noodles in salted boiling water. While the noodles cook, remove sauce from heat and stir in the remaining chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper. Add the meatballs and stir. Set aside.
5. Spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with vegetable spray. Pour about one or two laddles of tomato sauce in bottom of the dish (no meatballs).
6. Drain cooked noodles and quickly rinse them through cold water and allow to drain. Layer three noodles in pan, touching, but not overlapping. Spread about 1 1/2 laddles of tomato sauce with meatballs on the noodle layer. Sprinkle about 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan. Repeat with another layer of noodles, meatballs, and cheese until all noodles are used on your last layer, do not put any meatballs. You can scoop some spoonfuls of sauce and then sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.
7. Bake on middle rack, loosely covered with foil for about 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes to melt top cheese and lightly brown it. Remove from oven. Allow lasagna to set for 6-8 minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy! This dish can be prepared up to two days in advance. Once it is all assembled simply cover tightly with plastic wrap and foil, or a lid for the baking dish. When ready to bake, just preheat oven and bake.