Ricotta Lasagna
Serves 12 • 2-3 Hours • Intermediate
Lasagna is a italian baked pasta dish. This ricotta based lasagna uses the savoury taste of ricotta and sausage to compliment the lasagna noodles and pasta sauce. This is a great addition to any specialty cook book.
1 lb Sweet Italian Sausage
1/2 lb Minced (ground) Beef
1/2 Onion (finely chopped)
1 tbsp Borrelli Minced Garlic or 2 finely chopped cloves
3.5 tbsp Sugar
1.5 tbsp Salt
1.5 tsp Dried Basil
1/2 tsp Fennel Seed
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 cup Chopped Parsley
4 cups Borrelli Crushed Tomatoes
2x 6 oz Borrelli Tomato Pastes
1/2 cup Water
2 cups Ricotta Cheese
1 Egg
16 oz Package Lasagna
16 oz Mozzarella Cheese, thinly sliced
1
Remove sausage casings, and break sausage into small bits.
2
Sauté sausage and ground beef in 5-quart saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat with onion and garlic until the meat is browned.
3
Add sugar, 1 tbsp salt, basil, fennel, pepper, and half the parsley; mix well.
4
Add tomatoes, tomato paste and water, mashing the tomatoes a bit. Bring the sauce to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered and stirring occasionally for 1 1/2 hours.
5
Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
6
Cook and drain pasta.
7
In a medium bowl mix ricotta, egg, 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining parsley.
8
Assemble your lasagna in a 13" x 9" x 2" roasting pan (listed bottom to top):
• bottom layer of sauce (approx. 1 1/2 cups)
• layer of pasta (overlapping slightly)
• layer of 1/2 the ricotta mixture
• layer of 1/3 of the mozzarella
• sauce layer (again, about 1 1/2 cups)
• layer of grated parmesan sprinkled over sauce (not so much that the sauce layer is covered entirely)
• layer of pasta
• layer of remaining ricotta
• layer of 1/3 of the mozzarella
• layer of remaining sauce
• layer of sprinkled Parmesan
• layer of remaining mozzarella
9
Cover the lasagna with foil and roast 30 minutes covered, then 25 minutes uncovered (or until bubbly and lightly browned). Cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
Uncooked lasagnas freeze very well so the extra work can be done well in advance. You can make several batches at a time and freeze the extras to thaw out and cook later.
Recipe (altered) from wikibooks