Lasagna Redemption

I’ve been in search of a good lasagna recipe since we got married.  I’d tried several and just wasn’t pleased.  Either they took too long to make or the sauce was bland or all I could taste was spinach or the cheese was weird or whatever.  I gave up and switched to ziti for the weeks I wanted a big dish of Italian food we could take for leftovers all week.  Then I saw this recipe over on Annie’s blog and decided I’d give it one more try.  She has never led me astray so I figured it was worth a shot   I was a little nervous when I saw the recipe originally came from allrecipes.com.  I was reminded of the time I made a lasagna while we were dating and I followed the allrecipes recipe that called for 5 tablespoons of Italian seasoning.  I thought the recipes could not be wrong so why would I deviate from it?  The sauce turned black from all the seasoning and it was DISGUSTING.  Tyler ate it all plus the leftover sauce, what a trooper.  So I was a bit hesitant, but I’m so glad I gave allrecipes and their lasagna another chance because this one was so delicious!  Definitely a keeper!  I’ve got the recipe and my shortcut technique below!

Deep Dish Lasagna (original recipe from allrecipes.com, you can see Annie’s version here)

• 12 no boil lasagna noodles
• 1 pound hot ground Italian sausage
• 2/3 cup chopped onions
• 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2/3 cup chopped fresh parsley, divided
• 3 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1 pound part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 (10 ounce) package chopped spinach, thawed and squeeze dried
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In skillet over medium heat, brown the sausage with the onions, garlic and 1/2 the parsley; drain. Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, Italian seasoning, oregano, and basil; mix well. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes; stirring occasionally.
3. In a bowl, combine remaining parsley and Ricotta, spinach, Parmesan, eggs, garlic salt, and pepper; mix well.
4. In lightly greased 9×13 inch baking dish, spread 2 cups sauce mix. Begin layering with 4 noodles, 1/2 cheese mix*, 1/3 remaining sauce, and 1 cup mozzarella. Repeat this layer again and the last layer will be noodles, sauce and mozzarella cheese. (*to simplify the layering I hold the no boil noodle in my hand and spread the cheese mixture on it.  Makes the layering go much quicker and it’s not as messy as trying to do it in the pan with sauce everywhere, see picture below.)
5. Bake covered in a preheated oven at for 45 minutes. Bake uncovered an additional 10 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

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