Well, the marinara sauce in the freezer turned into a lasagna, actually a sausage lasagna. The lasagna made its debut on Thursday evening, and 5 days later Rob just finished the last of it for lunch today, and it was still as tasty as the first night.
I have made lasagna with a number of different people, and everyone did it differently. I have a basis that I use, and then I just tweak it depending upon the additional ingredients I decide upon (i.e. Spinach, sausage). So for this recipe you will need: 1 9/13 lasagna pan, 3 cups marinara, 1 1/2 boxes whole wheat lasagna noodles, 12 oz ricotta, 16 oz shredded mozzarella, 1 egg, 3 hot Italian sausages casings removed, 1/2 bunch fresh parsley chopped. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Now for the sausages you can use pork sausages, turkey sausages, or chicken sausages, however turkey and chicken are generally a slightly drier meat, so add little more sauce to the recipe, trust me it will save you the pain of dry lasagna. That is never a crowd pleaser.
First up we have the lasagna noodles, my new favorite way of "cooking" the noodles is to fill my tea pot with water and bring it to a boil. In a separate lasagna pan from the one you are using, spread out all the lasagna noodles, once the water boils, pour it in the pan until it covers the noodles. Let sit for 10 mins, the noodles, will be perfectly al dente. Then I just use a pair of tongs to grab each noodle for layering.
While the noodles are softening, cook the sausage. You should have removed the casings first so we are working with free sausage meat, liberated meat if you will. I cooked them over medium heat in a non-stick pan, making sure to break up the meat well as it browned, just before the sausage is done, add your sauce to the pan. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Now comes the fun part, make sure your hands are washed first, then grab the egg, ricotta, 12 oz mozzarella (we're saving the rest of the mozzarella to sprinkle on top), and parsley. Break the egg into the bowl, then toss in the rest of the ingredients. Now here is the fun part, the reason you washed your hands (which I'm sure were clean to begin with, but you never know, I have a dog sometimes i can't resist a belly rub in the middle of a recipe, so I wash my hands a lot when I cook) mix together the egg, cheese, and parsley with your hands. Oooo it's cold and gooey, and so fun to mix. Reminds me a bit of gritty mud pies in the backyard. Anywho, if you want you can toss a little salt and pepper into this too, you probably don't have too though.
Now wash your hands again, and grab your empty lasagna pan as it is time to layer! Start with one layer of noodles (I can fit 4 noodles in the bottom of my pan), then using a spoon spread on a layer of cheese mixture, then cover with a layer of sauce/sausage mixture, repeat. I usually put three layers of each in my pan, and then after the last layer of sauce/sausage sprinkle on the remaining 4 oz of mozzarella so it will have a lovely melted cheese top. Everything is better with melted cheese. Do not even try to argue with that statement (ok except sushi, and really most fish recipes but those are the only exceptions....).
Put in the oven for about 25 mins or until nice and bubbly. Really you just need to keep your eye on it. And now a new feature, I'll mention what wine or beer, or other alcoholic beverage I would pair with the meal. This is just what I like, I have no experience in wine/beer/liquor pairings to back this up, but I do know what I like, which I think is really the most important thing in picking any wine/beer/liquor. This lasagna will pair well with almost any red Italian wine, however, I really enjoy a good Montepulciano d'abruzzo.
And voila, that was my meal, er actually several meals over the last 5 days.
ps. You can freeze some of the leftovers if you don't think you can eat them all before they would spoil!
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