SAUSAGE LASAGNA!

LASAGNA!  Yes, please!  We modified, though, I figure that unless you're short on supplies, it's hard to mess it up!  Serve with a bottle of red wine!

Below is the recipe I used, with my modifications in red.  I gave up beef for Lent, so I only used Italian sausage.  Instead of creating a 9"x13" casserole (since there were lots of other things I wanted to cook/eat this week!) we halved the recipe and made it in an 8"x8" dish.  With a few cuts of the lasagna pasta pieces, it turned out fine. 

The original recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/lasagna-al-forno-recipe/index.html

Ingredients (half the original recipe):

• 1/2 pound dried lasagna noodles
• Olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced (didn't halve because we love garlic!)
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 pound ground Italian sausage
• 3 ounces tomato paste
• 15 ounces ricotta cheese, (1 container)
• 1/4 cup Italian flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano, chopped
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups tomato sauce, prepared
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Grated Parmesan and mozzarella, for topping

Directions

1. Cook the lasagna noodles in plenty of boiling salted water until pliable and barely tender, about 10 minutes. Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking. Drain the noodles thoroughly, coat with olive oil keep them moist and easy to work with.
2. Coat a large skillet with olive oil. Saute over medium heat, onion,garlic and herbs. Cook 5 minutes. Remove from the pan.  Brown sausage until no longer pink, about 15 minutes. Drain fat into a small container and discard. Stir in the tomato paste completely. Set aside to cool.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta, parsley and oregano. Stir in beaten egg. Add Parmesan, season with salt and pepper.
4. To assemble the lasagna: Coat the bottom of an 8x8-inch pan with a ladle full of tomato sauce. Arrange 4 noodles lengthwise in a slightly overlapping layer on the sauce (cut off extra length), lining each end with a noodle to form a collar that holds in the corners.  Spread 1/2 of the meat mixture over the pasta. Dollop 1/2 of the ricotta mixture over the meat, spread to the edges with a spatula. Sprinkle 1/2 of the mozzarella on top of the ricotta. Top with a ladle full of tomato sauce, spread evenly. Repeat with the next layer of noodles, meat, cheeses and sauce. Top last layer with noodles, sauce and shredded mozzarella and Parmesan. Tap the pan to force out air bubbles. Tent foil over the pan (to prevent cheese from burning) and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, remove foil and cook for 10 minutes more, and set on broil for the last 5 minutes, watching carefully for the cheese to brown.  Remove from oven. Let lasagna rest for 5 minutes so the noodles will settle and cut easily. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

Dinner was late that night (plan plenty of time for lasagna!), so we shortened the hour that it called for and raised the temperature, after having checked other lasagna recipes.  Like I said, it turned out fine and seems hard to mess up.  The original recipe also didn't call for the foil over the lasagna, but we were scared that the cheese on top would burn, so we tented it and broiled for the last few minutes, which turned out fine (again, David keeping me in check!).  Lastly, it said to let it rest for 30 minutes, but it was fine after 5 minutes of resting.  Ours didn't spill over, but we put foil underneath the pan while it baked in the oven just in case.

Browning the sausage and adding the onion mixture back in

The ricotta mixture

Ready for the oven! 

Served with Texas Toast (no time to make homemade garlic bread!) but still delicious!

We had leftovers for lunch the next day, and it was still delicious!

Changes for next time:

1. Distribute the ricotta and tomato sauce mixture more evenly since it calls for half on the first layer, but there are two more layers after that (though, it all mixes together in the end and still tastes fantastic!).