Lasagna ala Josh

0Josh • 4th Apr 2009 • blog entries, i'm a nerd, Josh's Recipes

Man, more food posts – it really has been a fun month experimenting with cooking at home more and messing around with recipes.  We made this latest meal for our small group bible study on Tuesday night because we had most of the ingredients already at home. Good thing it worked out and tasted great… otherwise we might have been banned from bringing dinner again.

• 1.5 lbs bulk Italian sausage or lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or 2 dried)
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (or 2 dried)
• 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 Cans (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 Cans (10 oz) tomato puree
• 1/4 cup water

• 2 eggs
• 1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese (or 2 cups small curd cottage cheese)
• 1 Cup grated parmesan cheese
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano

• enough lasagna noodles to make 3 layers in a 13×9 pan (8 or 12 noodles, depending on brand)

1. Cook beef, and onion in a skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally until brown; drain, set aside
2. Brown garlic, Mix Tomatoes, tomato puree, water; stir.  Add 3 tablespoons of the parsley, the basil, red pepper, and sugar, simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
3. Combine half of tomato mixture with cooked ground beef or sausage.
4. Cook lasagna noodles as directed by the box (or set aside noodles that don’t need to be pre-cooked)
5. In medium bowl, beat eggs. Sir in ricotta, 2 cups of mozzarella, 1/2 cup Parmesan, oregano, and remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley.
6. Spread 1/2 of the meat&tomato mixture (about 2 cups) on the bottom of a 13x9x2 baking dish. (Leaving 1/2 meat/tomato mixture, along with all of the “just tomato” mixture).
7. cover sauce with one layer of noodles (approx 4 noodles)
8. spread one half of the ricotta mixture over noodles, add 1/2 of the “just tomato” mixture, and sprinkle with 1 cup of mozzarella, add another layer of noodles.
9. spread second half of the ricotta mixture over noodles, add the second half of meat/tomato mixture, and add final layer of noodles.
10. spread second half of “just tomato” mixture over noodles, sprinkle with final cup of mozzarella and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.
11. Bake, covered with foil at 350 degrees, 30 minutes for boiled noodles – 50-60 minutes for uncooked noodles until bubbly.  Uncover, and continue cooking until cheese is melted.  Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.  Makes 10 servings.