Hearty Meat Lasagna

From "The New Best Recipe," an America's Test Kitchen cookbook
tomato-meat sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
6 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 lb ground beef
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained


Ricotta, Mozzarell, and Pasta layers
15 ounces whole milk or 15 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
2 1/2 ounces parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaf
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
12 no-boil lasagna noodles
1 lb whole-milk mozzarella cheese, shredded


Directions:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
For the sauce: Pre-heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion. Cook until softened but not brown, about 2 minutes. Add garlic, cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Increase heat to medium high. Add meat, salt and pepper. Cook until meat is no longer a raw color, but not browned, about 4 minutes.
Add the cream and simmer until the liquid evaporates and only the fat remains, about 4 minutes.
Add the pureed and drained diced tomatoes. Bring to a simmer; reduce the heat to low and simmer until flavors are blended, about 3 minutes.

For the Layers:.
Mix the ricotta, 1 cup of the parmesan, the basil, egg, salt, pepper in a medium bowl and mix with a fork until creamy and well combined.
Smear the entire bottom of a 13x9 inch baking dish with 1/4 cup of the sauce. Place 3 noodles on top of the sauce. Drop 3 T. of ricotta mixture onto each of the noodles and smear with the back of a spoon.

Sprinkle 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese over the ricotta mixture. Spoon 1 1/2 cups of the meat sauce over the cheese mixture. Top with 3 more noodles. Repeat layering of noodles, ricotta, mozzarella and sauce two more times.
Place the remaining 3 noodles on the sauce, spread with remaining sauce, sprinkle remaining cheese, and parmesan.


Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes.
Remove foil and bake 25 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes.