Sauce:
In pot, brown the Hot and Sweet Sausage with the crushed garlic in a little olive oil until nice and brown and garlic is cooked.
Add crushed and puree canned tomatoes; I usually use about 1 can of puree for every 3 or 4 cans of crushed.
Add one 12 oz. can of tomato paste; fill empty can with water and add to sauce.
Add a little sugar.
Sprinkle some Salt covering top lightly.
Pepper (to taste).
Sprinkle dried oregano covering top (generously).
Sprinkle dried parsley covering top (generously).
Add 1 large bay leaf or 2 smaller.
Simmer and stir often.
After about 2 hours, I add some cooking sherry and sprinkle some cheese over the top (not too much).
While sauce is simmering, prepare Meatballs:
Mix chopped meat, flavored bread crumbs, lots of crushed garlic, 1 egg (for each 1 – 1/2 meat), with some water. Don’t use too much water; the mix should have a firm consistency.
Shape into balls and brown in olive oil on all sides. Then, add to sauce.
Lasagna:
Prepare noodles as directed on package.
Mush up a blend of the sausage and meatballs.
You’ll need to calculate about how many layers you’re going to have and divide your cheese and the meat up accordingly.
Add some sauce to cover bottom of pan.
Add a layer of noodles, let them overlap each other.
Add some ricotta cheese. I usually use my hands and spread little drops out over the noodles.
Add some mozzarella. I grate the mozzarella ahead of time and spread it out over the top as if you were spreading cheese out over a pizza.
Add some meat spread out over the top.
Add some sauce on top. I use a ladle and after dropping sauce over the top, I use the bottom of the ladle to help spread it over the cheese.
Add another layer of noodles and do the same.
The top layer is noodles. Then, add some sauce and spread out over the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. Test by putting a fork into the center and checking if the cheese if hot.
