1/8 c fresh Italian parsley, chopped
23 oz of ricotta cheese
12 oz
frozen chopped spinach, thawed
Place sausages, beef, onions and garlic in Dutch oven or large saucepan and brown over medium heat until cooked through, breaking up the meat (with a potato masher if you have tendonitis) as necessary while stirring.
Transfer the mixture into a colander placed over a bowl to drain the grease.
If you have a fat separator, transfer the beef and sausage drainage into it and return the aqueous portion to the Dutch oven with the beef, discarding the 1/4 cup of grease. If you're like me, you'll just be out of that soon-to-be gelatenous 1/2 c of beefity-porkity-goodness.
Return the beef and sausage to Dutch oven; reduce heat to medium-low.
Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and water* to the meat and combine.
*Remember my mom's trick of rinsing the cans with the water to minimize waste?
Gently stir in sugar, fennel seed, salt, marjoram, pepper;
stir in the basil;
and finally stir in all but two tablespoons the parsley.
Cover sauce and allow it to simmer over low heat for 1.5-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate overnight if so desired. To warm it up Day 2, pop it in a 350°F oven for about 25 minutes.
See my note about the noodles
here.
Prepare the cheese filling by combining the ricotta and nutmeg with eggs and 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley.
Spread 2 cups of sauce over the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish and layer half the noodles over the sauce, staggering noodles to reach across the entire 13" length.
Carefully spread half of the cheese mixture over the noodles, sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzerella and half the parmesan before topping with half the spinach and additional 2 cups of sauce.
Layer the remaining lasagna noodles over the sauce, spread with remaining ricotta mixture, 1/3 lb of mozzarella, remaining Parmesan, and remaining half of the spinach.
Finished lasagna profile.
Allow to cool 15-20 minutes before slicing. Or, allow to cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate. Warm it up, covered with foil, for about 30-40 minutes at 350°F.
I received many compliments on this lasagna and no one had a clue that the noodles were gluten-free. Those that I'd informed of the gluten-free status did comment that the noodle texture was on the mushy side. Doing this gluten-free again, I'd put the Tinkyada noodles straight into the lasagna from the box.
The sauce was certainly kick-ass and be sure sausage selection is really key. I found the Ralph's Private Selection sausage much milder than the Stater Bros. brand I'd used the first time I prepared this recipe. Of course, I should keep in mind that this round of sauce was much more in quantity due to the use of 1 additional can of tomato sauce, 7 more garlic cloves, and piles more basil and parsley. Draining the grease from the meat was a wise choice. Even so, I wound up with 4 more cups of sauce than last time, about 6 cups total. Enough to do another lasagna. Hmm...
I'm not sure the addition of an extra egg did much since I didn't slice the lasagna immediately. The second egg certainly reduced the viscosity of the cheese filling making it much easier to spread. Fortunately, the lasagna didn't taste "eggy."
Cost:
- sausage: $4.35
- beef: $4.19
- onions: $0.39
- garlic: $0.27
- crushed tomatoes: $1.49
- tomato sauce: $2
- tomato paste: $0.84
- basil: $1.65
- parsley: $0.49
- ricotta cheese: $3.59
- eggs: $0.63
- mozzarella cheese: $4.99
- Parmesan cheese: $1.40
- lasagna noodles: $3.59
- spinach: $1.25
Total: $31.12 or $2.59 for each of 12 servings.
