Misadventures with Tori

I got this recipe from AllRecipes.com…. and slightly modified is simply amazing. I’m really picky about my sauce, and this blew me away

I stole a stock picture…. DH’s is still to warm to take a good picture. (and I dont want to cut a piece out and waste it… I wont eat it.) 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef (I did a pound, its what I had.)
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (I couldnt find them, so I used finely diced and it was nice- left a bit of tomato in there.)
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I used dried)
• 1 tablespoon oregano (tori addition)
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced (I used shredded)
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

DIRECTIONS

1. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, oregano, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. (Ours sat about an hour. Make sure to stir every few minutes to prevent burning!)
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. (I added 1/2 of my parmesan cheese in here too….)
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving. (We were impatient- we only baked it for 30 minutes total.. oops :))

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 20:09 and is filed under pork, comfort food, super easy, ground beef, casseroles, baking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.