Lasagna

Lasagna is the first thing that people think of when they think of meals to freeze, and with good reason - just about everyone loves it, but it's way too much work to prepare from scratch more than once a year. Despite all the food in my freezer, I didn't have any lasagna before this weekend.

I used the recipe from my go-to freezer meal cookbook, The Best Make-Ahead Recipe from Cook's Illustrated. I haven't had a recipe from this go wrong yet, and this was no exception.

I may have finally learned that you don't always need to mess with the recipe for red sauce to make it good. I'm always tempted to add wine and balsamic vinegar and loads of Italian seasoning. Simpler is almost always better, though. I used half ground beef and half sweet Italian sausage for the meat here, and that plus salt and pepper flavored the sauce just enough - it was bright and tomato-y and didn't taste at all like year-old dried Italian seasoning from the cabinet.

I doubled the recipe here and made four 8x8" pans - three for the freezer and one for dinner on Sunday.

The Best Make-Ahead Lasagna

SAUCE

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 6 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 2 tbsps)
• 1 lb meatloaf mix
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree (or tomato sauce)
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

RICOTTA FILLING

• 24 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese (about 3 cups)
• 2 ounces parmesan cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaf, chopped
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

NOODLES AND CHEESE

• 12 no-boil flat lasagna noodles, preferably Barilla (there are 16 noodles per box)
• 1 lb whole milk mozzarella, shredded (about 4 cups)
• 1 ounce parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup)
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Directions available at Food.com.