Mom’s Authentic Italian Lasagna

I love my mom’s Lasagna. In fact it is probably one of my top 5 favorite things that she makes. At 74 years old she has accumulated a wealth of cooking knowledge and skills. My father says she couldn’t boil and egg when they got married; she sure has come a long way.

When I was at the ripe old age of 11 months, my family was sent to Italy courtesy of the U.S. Air Force for almost 4 years. During that time my mother learned a lot about traditional Italian cooking. I asked her today if she had a recipe for her Lasagna and like most great cooks she said no. “I go by taste with pinch of this and a pinch of that until it is just right”. She said when we first arrived in Italy and got settled in my parents invited a new friend of theirs who my dad worked with over to the apartment for dinner. Bill was married to an Italian woman named Angela and mom thought it would be a good idea to “impress” her with an Italian dish.  (ha ha ha). Well my mom is from the hills of West Virginia and even though she was raised in a small coal mining town full of Italians, Poles, Czechs and Germans she had not quite mastered the skills of European cooking.

She made her lasagna and from what she said Angela was pretty straight up in letting her know that this was NOT how lasagna was made. She chuckled as she told me the story and when she told Angela the ingredients I guess that instantly identified her as an amateur. Angela took my young mom (then about 25) under her wing and taught her how real Italian lasanga was made. Like I said she doesn’t have a written recipe but she told me she uses two parts ground beef to one part Italian sausage for the meat. A bechamel white sauce with a touch of nutmeg, provolone based cheese sauce, a tomato sauce, several seasonings and of course lasagna noodles. Her lasagna is typically about 4 layers thick and she usually makes it at least a day, sometimes two days ahead of serving day to ensure great seasoning.

The result is nothing less than spectacular. It never fails that when I have my first taste my taste buds go crazy and I always have more than I should. Have you ever eaten something that when you are done you are almost miserable? It tastes so good that you just have to have more and more. Well, that is how it is with my mom’s lasagna. I don’t just say that because it is hers. Others rant and rave about it and some of our friends here in Kentucky had never had lasagna made without cottage cheese. UUggghhhh…….cottage cheese in lasagna. WOW.  I guess I have been spoiled.

So what is your favorite style of Lasagna???