Sweet Italian Sausage Lasagna

Lasagna has been one of my favorite meals since I was a child. I was first introduced to the concept of Lasagna by the comic strip Garfield, and as a child, I ordered it at every restaurant I was taken. Over the years I have prepared many recipes, from my mothers own, to friends and coworkers and there were some really great ones and some not so great. Luckily, all had something interesting going on and these things I made note of, thus, this recipe is an conglomeration of all the best elements of each lasagna that I have tired and enjoyed. The thing I think I love most about this dish, is you are rewarded for you hard work by not having to cook for a few days, as there are always tons of leftovers and, as always, it tastes better the nest day.

The next lasagna I make will be a white lasagna with chicken, so be looking for it in the near future. 

Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Makes 8-12 servings, depending on portion size.

Skill Level: Beginner

Prep time about 45 minutes.

Cook Time about 40-50 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 box lasagna noodles
• 1 block of whole milk mozzarella
• Ricotta cheese
• Cream cheese (Pull out 1st and allow to come to room temperature)
• 3 cans condensed crushed tomatoes
• 6 eggs
• ground beef
• 1 pack of Sweet Italian sausage
• Thick cut bacon or bacon ends and pieces
• White Wine (not necessary)
• Chicken Stick (Or bouillon/base mixed with water)
• 6-8 whole cloves of garlic
• Sugar
• Dried basil
• Dried oregano
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Vegetable Oil (Not Pictured, for the cooked pasta. See the "How to Cook Pasta", under the table of contents section on the home page, for more details)
• Kosher salt
• Pepper (Note: preferably fresh cracked from a mill)

Tools Needed:

• Large Stock Pot
• 1 medium Sauce Pot (to boil eggs: see 'How to Hard Boil Eggs' under the table of contents section on the home page, for more details)
• 1 Sautoir Pan
• Lasagna pan, glass or metal
• Pan, Tray, or Cookie Sheet
• Wooden spatula
• Whisk
• Birds beak, petty, or regular paring knife
• Small Ziploc bag.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

You can get uncased Italian sausage, but this week, the cased sausage was a better deal and it is very easy to remove the casing.

Simply use your paring knife and split the casing from top to bottom.

Then peel the casing off and discard.

Note: if you made the Scaloppini of Pork recipe, you'll have a bag of pork trimmings in your freezer for stock, you can add the casings to that bag.

Take the package of ground beef and carefully undo the plastic wrap from the bottom, in such a way, that it is possible to wrap it back closed. 

Note: it is important to realize that most of the bacteria that spoils food is transferred there by your hands. Thus, it is VERY important that you wash your hands before hanging highly perishable items, like ground beef. 

So, wash up before you peel the plastic back on your hamburger, unless of course, you are going to use 100% of the package.

You want the sausage and ground beef ratio about 50/50

After you take the amount of hamburger that you need, take a chef's knife and cut the unused foam tray off. 

 Now you can wrap the beef back up and place in your fridge. 

Note: The least amount of time out of the refrigerator, the better. This goes for seafood, meats, and some produces.

Cut the thick bacon into lardons (Like a fat short julienne with pork belly or bacon) and fry golden.

Add the beef and sausage to the pan with the lardons. Salt and pepper the beef only, as the sausage comes seasoned. Brown while string often.

Add the lasagna pasta to water at a hard rolling boil, which has been salted.

Stir the pasta gently for a few minutes to make sure the noodles do not stick together.

Use your wooden spatula to break the meat up into evenly sized chunks. You want decent sized chunks of meat, not fine ground.

When meat is about 75% browned, add the garlic and finish caramelizing the meat.

Add about a cup of chicken stock to deglaze the pan. If you have some white wine handy, add about ¼ cup. Reduce by half.

Add the concentrated crushed tomatoes and 2 heaping table spoons of sugar, 1 tlb dried basil and 1 tsp dried oregano. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until thick.

Note: If you get it too thick, simply thin down with some water, until desired thickness, then adjust flavor with salt and pepper if necessary.

In a bowl, add the ricotta, 2 large eggs, 1 tsp dry oregano, 1 tsp dry basil, 2 heaping tablespoons of sugar, 1 tsp garlic salt, and kosher salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

Add room temperature cream cheese and mix well.

Note: See the "How to Cook Pasta", under the table of contents on the home page, for detailed pasta cooking directions.

Oil and place pasta on ½ sheet pan to cool.

Grate the mozzarella cheese. 

Note: Do not let sit out at room temperature, as the cheese has a very low melt temperature and will clump together. If need be, place in fridge until needed.

Note: Use the wooden spatula to remove the whole garlic cloves. If you have cooked the sauce long enough, the garlic should have a nice roasted smell. Discard or spread over french bread to accompany the meal.

Shingle the lasagna pan with a row of noodles, from side to side, making sure your noodles have extra length, as we are going to use it later.

 Add a layer of meat sauce, then use a serving spoon to place large dollops of the ricotta/cream cheese mixture. Use ½ the cheese mixture.

Note: there is no need to spread the cheese out. Just leave in clumps.

Now run a row of noodles lengthwise.

Add another layer of the meat sauce, the second ½ of the cheese and 2-4 large diced hard boiled eggs.

Note: I like 4 eggs, my wife likes 2 eggs in the recipe. So use as many or as few as suits your tastes.

Now take the extra lengths of the bottom layer pasta noodles and tuck them around.

Run another layer of pasta sheets lengthwise.

Note: In this recipe, I'm leaving the top layer naked of sauce, because I like the top to be a little crispy.  If you don't want it crispy, when you are making your meat sauce, add an extra can of condensed crushed tomatoes

Note: I cooked a whole box of lasagna noodles and had 3 noodles left over. I am going to save them and use them later. I'll cut them into strips and toss with a little butter and salt for an easy afternoon snack.

Top evenly with grated mozzarella, making sure not to leave any of the pasta, not even the edges, exposed. 

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown.

Note: Let stand 10-20 minutes before cutting.

Lasagna freezes particularly well, but must be packaged so it doesn't freezer burn.

Note: Reheat by placing on a microwave safe plate, then wrapping plate in food service wrap. You want an airtight seal. You can now microwave for 3-4 minutes without burning or drying out the lasagna. To avoid getting a steam burn, let stand for a few minutes to allow the steam to subside. You will know that this has happened when the food service wrap goes from being inflated like a ballon to being vacuumed down on to the food. Most any food can benefit from being wrapped when microwaved.




Enjoy.