Italian Lasagne

Ingredients

2 quarts Spaghetti Sauce
Use Susan's Spaghetti Sauce Recipe, omitting meatballs or use two store-bought jars
2 pounds Hot Italian Sausage
8-10 Lasagne Noodles
1 15 oz container Ricotta Cheese
(tastes best if you don't use low fat)
1 pound Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (I buy pre-shredded in a bag)
2 cups Shredded Asiago Cheese (or freshly grated parmesan)
1 wedge Gorgonzola Cheese (optional)
  Non-stick Cooking Spray
 

Instructions

Brown the sausage until fully cooked. Prepare the sauce if making from scratch. Add the sausage to the sauce and let it simmer.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Parboil the lasagne noodles in a large pot of water. I usually add two more noodles than I need just in case they significantly break in the water while cooking. Drain noodles and lay in a single layer on wax paper or aluminum foil. If you use aluminum foil, you can use the same foil to cover the pan while cooking. On each noodle, spread a layer of ricotta cheese (I think it's easier to spread the cheese before you layer the noodles).

Spray the bottom and sides of the dish with cooking spray. In a 9x13 baking dish, spread enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. Place four overlapping noodles on top of the sauce. Spread a fairly thick layer of mozzarella cheese on top of the noodles. Spread a thin layer of asiago (or parmesan) cheese. I also sometimes add a layer of crumbled gorgonzola cheese. Add enough sauce to cover the cheese layers. Layer the rest of the noodles, top with enough sauce so that noodles are completely covered. Top with a thin layer of mozzarella and enough parmesan cheese to cover the sauce.

Spray aluminum foil to be used to cover lasagne pan with non-stick cooking spray. Bake, covered with aluminum foil at 350° for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 15 more minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and slightly browned. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into 12 pieces.

Notes

If you have time, this tastes best with home-made spaghetti sauce. I have a really nice recipe for spaghetti sauce, but store-bought sauce will taste nearly as good if you simmer it for a while with the sausage. I like to let it simmer for at least 2 hours. It tastes pretty good even if you don't have time to simmer it though!

It seems that often when I make this dish, the pan is too full, so I will sometimes make a smaller pan to give away or freeze for later. A loaf pan is a good size. If you do this, be sure to cook some extra noodles and cut them to size.

 

Something possessed me to put some of my favorite recipes on my web site back in 1995. I add a new one now and then when I discover something interesting. My recipes are generally combinations of favorite recipes I've found in cookbooks. They were developed through experimentation and lots of tasting!
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