Brown meat slowly; spoon off excess fat. Add next 5 ingredients and 1 cup water. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes; stir often.
Cook noodles in boiling salted water until tender; drain rinse.
Beat eggs; add remaining ingredients except mozzarella.
Layer half the noodles in a 9x13 baking dish; spread with half the ricotta filling; add half the mozzarella cheese and half the meat sauce. Repeat.
Bake at 375°F about 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Can be made ahead and refrigerated but bake for 45 minutes. You can also make 2 pans by increasing the ingredients by 1.5 and using two 8x10 foil pans (see notes below).
When layering the noodles I cut them to fit the length of the pan and overlap ½ width-wise each time. Once the bottom is covered I cut one additional noodle in half lengthwise and place it at each of the long edges to make the layer 2 noodles deep all the way across.
Full size pan serves 6 comfortably with leftovers. Smaller pan serves approximately 4 with leftovers. Depends greatly upon what you serve with it and how big of eaters you are feeding. I generally serve with broccoli or a salad, and garlic bread.
When making 2 pans -
Follow directions for 9 x 13 pan except assemble both pans at the same time.
Ricotta mixture is about 4 cups which is 1 cup per layer (2 layers, 2 pans)
Meat mixture is about 7 cups which is 1 3/4 cup per layer
I usually serve one pan and freeze the other. However allow plenty of time for it to thaw out by placing in refrigerator at least 24 hours prior to cooking and serving.
Ingredients
Directions
Brown meat slowly; spoon off excess fat. Add next 5 ingredients and 1 cup water. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes; stir often.
Cook noodles in boiling salted water until tender; drain rinse.
Beat eggs; add remaining ingredients except mozzarella.
Layer half the noodles in a 9x13 baking dish; spread with half the ricotta filling; add half the mozzarella cheese and half the meat sauce. Repeat.
Bake at 375°F about 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Can be made ahead and refrigerated but bake for 45 minutes. You can also make 2 pans by increasing the ingredients by 1.5 and using two 8x10 foil pans (see notes below).
When layering the noodles I cut them to fit the length of the pan and overlap ½ width-wise each time. Once the bottom is covered I cut one additional noodle in half lengthwise and place it at each of the long edges to make the layer 2 noodles deep all the way across.
Full size pan serves 6 comfortably with leftovers. Smaller pan serves approximately 4 with leftovers. Depends greatly upon what you serve with it and how big of eaters you are feeding. I generally serve with broccoli or a salad, and garlic bread.
When making 2 pans -
Follow directions for 9 x 13 pan except assemble both pans at the same time.
Ricotta mixture is about 4 cups which is 1 cup per layer (2 layers, 2 pans)
Meat mixture is about 7 cups which is 1 3/4 cup per layer
I usually serve one pan and freeze the other. However allow plenty of time for it to thaw out by placing in refrigerator at least 24 hours prior to cooking and serving.