My Lasagna Recipe

I love Italian dishes and have tried to perfect my lasagna recipe for years. So far this is the best I've come up with and enjoy it very well. I'd never used a butter sauce before, but for some reason it seems to add that something special to the results.

Lasagna Sauce:

1 lb hamburger or ground sirloin
1 tsp (more or less to liking) Italian seasoning
1 jar Ragu Traditional Spaghetti sauce
1 can diced tomatoes

Butter Sauce:

2 TBS butter or margarine
2 tsp all-purpose flour (approximate)
1/2 cup milk (approximate)

Cheese Mixture:

1 tub Ricotta cheese
1/2 to 1 cup shredded Parmesan
beaten egg (optional)
1/4 cup shredded Romano

Extra:

several slices Mozarella cheese
Grated Parmesan
Grated Romano

Lasagna noodles

For sauce:

Brown hamburger or sirloin.

When about 3/4 browned, add Italian seasoning. Let brown for about 5 minutes more. Then add Ragu and diced tomatoes. Cook on low heat to blend flavors while making butter sauce.

For butter sauce:

Melt butter or margarine, add flour, a little at a time and stir until lumps are gone. Add milk gradually and stir until slightly thickened. This shouldn't be as thick as gravy.

For cheese mixture:

Blend Ricotta cheese, Parmesan, beaten egg and Romano in a bowl.

Directions:

In a glass baking dish sprayed with Pam, add sauce on the bottom. Then add a layer of lasagna noodles. On top of the noodles add more lasagna sauce, then butter sauce, then the Ricotta cheese mixture, then a couple slices of Mozarella and keep repeating this until your top layer is sauce over noodles. Sprinkle grated Parmesan and grated Romano on top. Cover with aluminum foil and let stand in refrigerator overnight. Next day bake in 350 degree oven for about an hour or until bubbly.

If you prefer to bake the same day as you make the lasagna, you'll need to boil the lasagna noodles until tender. But, making it ahead and leaving in the refrigerator overnight, saves you the trouble and the flavors tend to blend very well.