Sausage Lasagna

I have always found lasagna to be one of the best "throw together" meals.  It requires four basic ingredients - lasagna noodles, marinara sauce, ricotta cheese, and mozzarella cheese.  After that it's up to you, which means you have been given carte blanche over your meal.  Add meat, add vegetables, add both...go crazy.  Of course, for some less experimental people, this could be your version of food hell.  Me, I have both gotten experimental as well as stuck close to a recipe.  What follows in this post is my adapted version of my absolute favorite lasagna recipe - Ina Garten's Turkey Lasagna.

I found this recipe six or seven years ago and fell in love because it uses creamy goat cheese to add a bit of tangy kick to the cheese mixture.  Another aspect that I really enjoy is that the sauce and the meat are cooked together.  For me, I feel that it creates a better flavor.  Plus, we're not putting together a dinner version of the 7-layer dip, we don't need individual layers for each section of the lasagna.  Some basic changes I've made to the original recipe include using a flavored goat cheese and crushed tomatoes with basil.  Using a flavored cheese adds a bit more depth (not that it's actually necessary) and having basil with the tomatoes means I was able to cut the amount I needed otherwise.  The result is a dish of fabulous everyone loves!

Ingredients:

Olive oil
1 c. onion - chopped
3 garlic cloves - mincesd
1 1/5 lbs hot Italian sausage - casings removed
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes with basil
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1/4 c. Italian parsley - chopped
2 Tbsp. partially dried basil - chopped
15 oz. part skim ricotta cheese
4 oz. crushed red pepper flavored creamy goat cheese
1 c. Parmesan cheese - grated
1 large egg
1 lb. fresh mozzarella - thinly sliced
1/2 box no-bake lasagna noodles

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook until tender, approximately 7 minutes.  Add the garlic and give a couple of stirs.  Add the sausage and cook for about 10 minutes.

As you cook, break the sausage apart into small chunks.  Once it is no longer pink add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, 1/2 the parsley, and the basil.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook for another 20 minutes.  You want the sauce to thicken up.

While the sauce simmers, put together your cheese mixture.  In a large mixing bowl, combine goat cheese, ricotta, Parmesan cheese, the rest of the parsley, and the egg.  Don't be afraid to get your hands in there to ensure everything is well mixed.

On to the layers!  Start with 1/3 of the sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Next is a layer of noodles - no overlapping.  Follow with 1/2 the mozzarella, 1/2 the ricotta mixture, and 1/3 of sauce.

Then repeat, topping with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes until the sauce is bubbling.  Let rest for a couple of minutes before digging in.  It'll still be a sloppy mess on your plate, but I promise it is tasty!