Patrick's Four-Cheese Lasagna |
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Prep Time: 60 Minutes Cook Time: 1 Minutes |
Ready In: 61 Minutes Servings: 12 |
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This is a traditional lasagna with tons of flavor - not bland. I've stayed with this one for quite a long time and it seems to have universal appeal for all ages. I have also used as many as 8 minced garlic cloves to bump it up even further on the flavor scale with great results. Ingredients:
56 ounces spaghetti sauce (canned) |
1 lb lasagna noodle, dry |
10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and chopped |
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded |
15 ounces ricotta cheese (or, cottage cheese) |
1 cup romano cheese, freshly grated |
2 cups monterey jack cheese, shredded |
2 teaspoons dried sweet basil leaves |
6 italian sausages |
1 1/2 lbs ground chuck |
1 tablespoon italian spices (see directions) |
3 fresh garlic cloves, minced |
1/2 cup dry red wine |
cooking spray |
Directions:
1. De-case the Italian sausages and break the meat up into a large cooking pot with the ground chuck. Brown the mix, breaking up chunks as much as possible, and drain.
2. Return the browned meat to the cooking pot and add the spaghetti sauce, Italian spices, red wine, and minced garlic. (To make a batch of Italian spices, use Dee514's Italian Blend Spice Mix thus combining: 2 tablespoons dried basil, 2 tablespoons dried marjoram, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon dried oregano, 1 tablespoon dried thyme, 1 tablespoon dried rosemary, 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes) Simmer for 15 minutes, covered, stirring frequently. At the end of 15 minutes, remove from heat and set aside.
3. Boil the lasagna noodles in a large pot of water until tender and drain. Shock the hot noodles in a rinse of cold water and re-drain (this keeps noodles from getting mushy during the baking process).
4. Spray three 8 x 8 casserole dishes with cooking spray. Put a small amount of sauce in each dish to just barely cover the bottom of each one.
5. Next, layer each dish (do one at a time) in this order: (layer #1) lasagna noodles, sauce, Ricotto cheese; (layer #2) noodles, sauce, Monterey Jack and Romano, spinach; (layer #3) noodles, sauce, mozarella cheese and garnish the top with a very light sprinkling of dried basil. (Lasagna noodles are about a foot long when cooked so you'll have to trim the long ones and fit the shorter pieces into the layers as needed. If they are sticking together, just dampen them a little with a couple of tablespoons of cool water.
6. Cover each casserole with aluminum foil ( tent the foil a bit so that it doesn't touch the cheese topping). At this point, you can decide which casseroles to freeze and which to bake.
7. Bake casseroles in a pre-heated 375-degree F. oven for 40 minutes, covered. Then take off the aluminum foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, remove from oven. (When baking a frozen lasagna, add 20 minutes to the covered cooking time).
8. Allow the lasagna to rest (on a rack, if available) for 15 minutes and then cut into serving pieces (I get four servings per each 8 x 8 casserole).
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