Recipe

Hosted By
Sheri

		Spicy Baked Lasagna
		Serving Size - 6
		Prepared By - Sheri
		Recipe Rating	Printer Friendly Recipe

1 lb lean ground beef, or Italian sausage

3 tablespoons Olive oil

1 cup chopped Onion

1 lg Red or green bell pepper (finely chopped)

2 lg Garlic cloves, minced

28 oz Italian plum tomatoes

6 oz can tomato paste

1/3 cup Water

1 1/2 teaspoons Dried basil

1 teaspoons Oregano

Sprinkles of Red Pepper flakes

1 teaspoon Sugar

Salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1 Bay leaf, broken in half

15 oz Fresh ricotta cheese

4 cups Grated mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 Egg

8 Lasagne noodles (uncooked)

1 tablespoon Olive oil

1/4 cup Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup Freshly grated mozzarella cheese

If using sausage, remove sausage casings and crumble sausage or just brown the sausage, slice it and add it as a layer over ricotta cheese instead of adding it to the sauce. If you remove the sausage casings or use ground beef, brown meat in large pot, stirring occasionally to break up the meat. Drain off fat. Remove meat and set aside. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in the same pot, add onion, garlic and bell pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 8 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in the ground browned meat (not the sliced sausage), tomato puree, tomato paste, water, basil, oregano, sugar, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and bay leaf and bring to boil. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours, or until flavors mingle and mixture thickens slightly (there will be about 4 1/2 to 5 cups of sauce). Combine ricotta, 1/4 cup Parmesan, egg, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl; set aside. Bring 3 quarts of water to boil in a large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt, then gradually add lasagna noodles so that water continues to boil. Cook noodles until barely tender, about 5 minutes, stirring once or twice; do not overcook. Drain noodles; rinse in cold water and drain well. Return noodles to pot and toss them gently with 1 tablespoon oil to prevent them sticking. Line the bottom of a buttered 9 x 13 x 2-inch pan with 4 lasagna noodles, cutting one as necessary to completely cover the bottom. Spread evenly with half of ricotta mixture (1 generous cup). Sprinkle evenly with half the mozzarella (about 2 cups). Spread with half of the tomato/meat sauce. Top with remaining 4 noodles, cutting one noodle as above so that the sauce mixture is completely covered. Evenly layer remaining ingredients in the same order as above. Sprinkle the top of the lasagna evenly with 1/4 cup Parmesan and 1/4 cup mozzarella cheeses. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 for about 45 or 50 minutes or until lasagna is hot in center. Remove from oven; let stand for 15 minutes. Cut in squares and serve on heated plates with garlic bread.