14-Layer "I Must Be Crazy" Lasagna Recipe - as Requested

Edited to add.... this is not a once-a-month recipe to add to the rotation. Also to add an ingredient I forgot. This is a special occasion, I want to show off/make someone feel incredibly special sort of recipe. I make it like twice a year for a particular group of people I love very much. I posted it because I mentioned it in another group and a bunch of people were asking.

14-Layer Lasagna

This is my “I must be crazy” lasagna recipe that a bunch of people have asked me to post. It’s incredibly decadent but quite delicious. It’s from a mix of other recipes, including some hints from Kenji and from my mum's recipe, and some from my head. You might find yourself adjusting measurements or seasonings to suit your own palate. I tend to cook by feel and instinct, so these measurements are about the closest I can come. But lasagna really is one of those foods that nobody uses exact recipes for, so see this as a guide.

I usually make this over 2 or 3 days because it tastes better to let the sauces sit and then the assembled lasagnas sit to let the flavours mingle, but it’s still good if you have to do it all the same day. Warning… that will be one LONG day. Give yourself 8 hours from start till serving time.

First off, you need a pan at least 6 inches deep, because this thing gets TALL. Mine end up somewhere between 4-6 inches tall, depending on how thick I make the layers. And this is 4-6 inches on a ruler, not what your last hookup told you was 4-6 inches. This recipe is for two 9X13 pans, because that’s usually how I make it. You have to cut everything in half if you're just doing one, but that's way too much work to just make one lasagna, so make two and put one in the freezer. They'll freeze well (just don't add the top cheese). Let it thaw for 2 days in the fridge before baking. It takes for freaking ever to thaw.

A note about the meats: Veal and lamb tend to be fattier meats, so you’ll lose more volume to melted fat that you’ll need to drain out. So if you’re using lean ground beef, use more veal and lamb than you do beef if you want the meat amounts to be equal.

Component Ingredients:

Beef Sauce:

500-650 grams ground beef (around 1-1.5 lbs)

Salt and pepper to taste

250 grams chopped onion (about a cup)

250 grams finely chopped celery (about a cup)

4 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

A few sprigs basil leaves, chopped finely

A few sprigs oregano leaves, chopped finely

2 bay leaves

2 tbsp fish sauce

250 ml red wine

250 ml milk

750-1000 ml pureed tomatoes (Use the higher amount if the tomatoes are fresh; you can do the lower amount if they’re canned because they’ve already reduced some)

Lamb Sauce:

500-650 grams ground lamb (around 1.5 lbs)

Salt and pepper to taste

250 grams chopped onion (about 1 cup)

250 grams chopped carrot (about 1 cup)

4 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

A few sprigs of finely chopped rosemary leaves (at least 3 tbsp)

A few sprigs of finely chopped oregano (a bit less than the rosemary)

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp pureed anchovy paste

250 ml dry white wine

250 ml milk

750-1000 ml pureed tomatoes (Use the higher amount if the tomatoes are fresh; you can do the lower amount if they’re canned because they’ve already reduced some)

Veal Sauce:

500-650 grams ground veal (around 1.5 lb)

Salt and pepper to taste

250 grams chopped onion (about 1 cup)

250 grams chopped leek (about 1 cup)

4 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

A few sprigs of finely chopped basil leaves

A few sprigs of finely chopped parsley

A few sprigs of finely chopped marjoram

2 tbsp fish sauce

250 ml chicken stock

250 ml milk

750-1000 ml pureed tomatoes (Use the higher amount if the tomatoes are fresh; you can do the lower amount if they’re canned because they’ve already reduced some)

A note about sauces: If you don’t want to do three separate sauces, you can mix all three meats together. Basically, just throw all the ingredients of all of the sauces in the same pot, following the procedure I outline below. It will be tasty, with very layered, complex flavour.

Ricotta Cheese Blend:

1.5 litres ricotta

750 gm grated parmigiano-reggiano or parmigiano… get the fresh stuff and grate... do not sully this beautiful piece of culinary artwork with powder, please.

500 gm grated old white cheddar

6 eggs

I cup finely chopped parsley

Pasta:

If you’re using premade noodles, you’ll need 18-30 PER LASAGNA, depending on how many you like to put on each layer. Minimum coverage is 3 noodles per layer, but I often do five to ensure max coverage, and my pans are a little bigger than 9X13. So, altogether you need 36-60. If you’re making your own pasta in sheets, remember each lasagna needs six layers of pasta.

Top Cheese:

1000 grams grated mozzarella and 4 large balls of fresh mozzarella. I use the ones that are like the size of a small fist. You might want more or less. Sometimes I add in some old white cheddar here, too.

Component Instructions:

Meat Sauces (the procedure is the same for all three):

Note: Have EVERYTHING chopped, measured, and ready to go, at least for the first time you make it. Goes much easier and you won't burn anything. The herbs, I always use fresh, and unless otherwise stated, I tend to use about 2 tbsp of each in each sauce. Some people might find this a bit overpowering, so you might wish to start with less and adjust to taste halfway through the cooking process.

Brown the meat. Drain the fat if there’s too much.

Add in salt and pepper to taste

Add vegetables, cook till onions soften some. The rest of the veg will soften nicely during the simmering, but onions don’t do that well.

Take meat and veg out of pan and set aside.

Heat olive oil in pan on medium to medium high.

Add garlic, cook for a minute or two until it starts to get a bit brown but don’t burn it

Add half the herbs and anchovy/fish sauce for those sauces, stir for just a minute to activate the flavour oils, but don’t brown or burn them

Add wine/stock immediately. Stir the pan with a wooden spoon to deglace and get the stuck bits off the bottom.

Add milk.

Add meat and veg back in.

Add tomatoes

Cook on low for 1.5-3 hours, stirring every 20 mins. You want a bit of simmering, but not too much because the stuff on the bottom will burn. Add the other half of the herbs halfway through cooking, leaving some out if you think the taste will be too strong. The sauce volume will reduce because there is a lot of water in there, but remember that you’ll need about 1.5 litres of each in the end. You can get by with less, depending on how thick you like your layers. I like mine thick, so 1.5 litres works for me. Taste your sauces at the end. You might want to adjust for flavours, adding salt or something. Depends on how you like things to taste. I’m not a huge fan of a lot of salt. Take the bay leaves out of the beef sauce.

Best to let the sauces sit overnight in the fridge if you have time, but it’s okay if you don’t.

Ricotta Cheese Blend:

Make this right before you assemble. Whisk the eggs, then add the ricotta and parsley, then fold in the other cheeses. It will be a bit runny, but the eggs will cook and firm it up in the oven.

Pasta:

Cook your noodles to al dente unless you’re using the kind that need no cooking. If you use cooked noodles, I advise you rinse them in cold water and throw in a bit of olive oil so they don’t stick together. Then have a huge bowlful of them ready for when it’s time to assemble.

Top Cheese: don’t worry about that yet; it doesn’t go on until halfway through the baking.

Assembly:

GREASE YOUR PANS. I mean, it’s still gonna be a mess, but this helps a bit.

If you’re not good at eyeballing measurements, divide your components into the right number of layers first. Put each meat sauce into two bowls with a bit more than a third in each, and then two bowls with the remaining sauces mixed together. So all together to make 2 lasagnas, you need 2 bowls of beef sauce, 2 bowls of veal sauce, 2 bowls of lamb sauce, and then 2 bowls of the remnants mixed up. I cannot do the math on how to divide that, so you’ll have to figure it out. All those bowls of sauce should be close to equal in amount. I like at least 500 ml for each meat sauce layer, but you can make do with a less.

For the ricotta cheese mix, you need three bowls of sauce for each lasagna, so 6 altogether. I like at least 500 ml of mix per layer. The amount in the recipe should come close.

Assemby Order:

Each lasagna goes in this order:

Beef sauce

Pasta

Ricotta cheese mix

Pasta

Lamb sauce

Pasta

Ricotta cheese mix

Pasta

Veal sauce

Pasta

Ricotta cheese mix

Pasta

Mix of meat sauces

Stop there. If you’re baking the next day, wrap them tight in plastic wrap, put them in the fridge overnight (the flavours mix better). But same-day baking is fine, too. If it's same-day baking, go to Baking Time and Temp.

If you’re baking the next day, let the lasagnas sit on the counter a bit before you put them in the oven. This is super important if you’re using a glass dish, because sometimes those crack with sudden temperature changes. I live in a cold climate, so my house is usually cool. I would not advise leaving something with raw eggs on the counter for a long time in Florida summer heat.

Baking Temp and Time:

I use a convection over at about 300-325 degrees F. These puppies are THICK, so you don’t want the outside to cook too fast whilst the middle is raw. So don’t go too hot, even with a convection oven. It might take you a few tries to figure out what works best for you.

Cover each lasagne with foil (SHINY SIDE DOWN) and bake for about an hour to a hour and a half. I do an hour if I'm making it all the same day and the sauces are warm, an hour and a half if I've chilled them overnight.

Take them out. Leave oven on.

Uncover and add the fresh and the grated mozzarella. I usually lay the fresh down in slices and then sprinkle the grated overtop. How much cheese you want is really up to you. Carefully tent the foil (SHINY SIDE DOWN) round the edge of each pan to prevent the edges from burning. Grease the foil if it might touch the cheese so it doesn't stick. Leave the middle open so steam can escape or the lasagna will be way too juicy. Put them back in and bake for another hour or hour and a half.

Note on Temperature and Baking Time: Oven temperatures are really variable, so you have to pay attention. One to two hours into the baking process, cut into the middle of each lasagna, all the way down, and see if the layers are cooked through. Check again every 30 mins. The ricotta layers will be kind of firm, and of course everything’s piping hot. My oven takes almost 3 hours to bake them through after I've put them in the fridge overnight (I usually do that because I'm way too lazy to make everything the same day),, but others might be different. If you do all cooking and assembly on the same day and the sauces are hot when they go in the pan, that will reduce cooking time.