19 August 2015

Three Cheese Lasagna with Italian Sausage

Mmmmm lasagna!  I looked around for a while to find this recipe--wanted one that did not require béchamel sauce and had a good amount of layers and cheese.  I made the recipe with the original amounts for the ricotta mixture and shredded cheese and found it was a little excessive, so the amounts below are what I would cut it down to (approximately what I used, based on what was leftover).  If you like a lot of sauce, you will want to make 1 1/2 or 2 times what is listed here and increase the baking time slightly (I think I will do that next time).  I also modified a couple of other parts just slightly.
Original recipe:


Ingredients:

1 T. olive oil
1 c. onion
3/4 c. carrots
2 T. minced bottled garlic
6 oz. lean ground beef
8 oz. (2 links) Italian sausages, casings removed
1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1/4 c. tomato paste
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil
1 T. golden brown sugar
1 T. dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
9 lasagna noodles
22 oz. part-skim ricotta cheese
3/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 package (8 oz.) shredded Italian 4 cheese blend
1 package (8 oz.) shredded Mozzarella

Instructions:

1. Process onion and carrots in food processor to finely chop them.

2. Heat oil over medium heat in heavy large skillet or saucepan.  Add onion, carrots, and garlic.  Sauté until softened, 10-12 minutes.

3. Add beef and sausage to pan.  Sauté until cooked through, around 5 minutes, chopping into small pieces as cooks.

4. Add ingredients from crushed tomatoes through crushed red pepper.  Cover and simmer for around 15 minutes.  Discard bay leaf after simmering.

5. Meanwhile, cook lasagna noodles according to package directions minus one minute of cook time.  Drain and spray/rinse with cold water.

6. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Combine ricotta and 1/2 c. of Parmesan cheese in bowl.  Season with salt and pepper, and stir in egg.

7. Spread 1/2 c. of the pasta sauce on bottom of 13" x 9" glass baking dish.  

8. Place 3 noodles over top of sauce.

9. Spread half of ricotta cheese mixture over noodles.

10. Sprinkle a little over half of 4 cheese blend over ricotta mixture.

11. Spread 1 1/2 c. sauce over cheese blend.

12. Repeat layering process, using a little bit of the mozzarella with the remaining 4 cheese blend.

13. Place last 3 noodles on top.  Spread remaining sauce over top of last noodles and top with remaining mozzarella.

14. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil.  Bake for 40 minutes.

15. Remove foil.  Bake for additional 20 minutes.

16. Let lasagna stand for 15 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

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