A lasagna WITHOUT ricotta?! — How to make an ‘authentic’ Italian lasagna

Everybody who makes lasagna here, including Italian Americans uses ricotta cheese. That's just what we think goes into a "real" lasagna.

Hold on there. Not in Italy!

If you Google authentic Italian lasagna you will find that Italians use béchamel sauce and NOT ricotta in their recipe.

About a dozen years ago I befriended my Italian teacher at a class I was taking in Philadelphia. She was from Sicily and had very different ideas on "Italian" food than I was used to. This is the recipe she showed me for real lasagna.

Some I've found online include beef and tomato sauce along with spinach. This one does not, but it is delicious!

I brought two lasagnas into work last week. One was the classic way we know with sauce, beef, ricotta and mozzarella and the other was this one my Sicilian friend showed me.

It was about 70/30 in favor of this one. And I must admit my classic recipe is pretty damn good, but this one is different and very much a crowd pleaser. Watch!

More from New Jersey 101.5:

Dennis & Judi are on the air weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tweet them @DennisandJudi or @NJ1015.