Lasagna with Turkey Sausage

Lasagna has always been one of my favorite dishes. Carbs, cheese, and pasta sauce – you can’t go wrong with that! Homemade lasagna is something that I’ve always wanted to make, but never attempted, because I rarely cook for more than two people at one time. This week my mom and I invited Nelson and my dad to help us eat one very cheesy homemade lasagna.

We used this recipe for Lasagna with Turkey Sausage from a Barefoot Contessa cookbook. Overall, it was easy to follow. Here's the ingredient list, but if you're interested in making this recipe at home, I'll let Ina give you detailed instructions since she is the true professional so click the link above!

 

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in tomato puree
• 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound lasagna noodles
• 15 ounces ricotta cheese
• 3 to 4 ounces creamy goat cheese, crumbled
• 1 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
• 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

We cut our cooking time in half by splitting the tasks. I handled the pasta and cheese filling while my mom worked on the sauce. It's nice to manage a more intensive recipe this way, and keeps me from getting overwhelmed by all of the steps.

Turkey sausage, parsley, onion, garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, basil.

 

Ricotta, goat cheese, parmesan, parsley, egg, salt and pepper.

 

While we were working on the sauce and cheese filling, the pasta was "cooking" in a large bowl filled with boiling hot water. This is a technique that neither of us had tried before. Instead of boiling the noodles, they sit in hot water for 20 minutes until they are soft. We checked on them a few times to make sure they weren't sticking together.

 

Nine lasagna noodles.

 

Once the sauce, cheese filling and pasta are ready, it's simple laying. One layer of sauce, then noodles, then mozzarella, then the cheese filling. Repeat this layering once more.

 

Cheese heaven!!!

 

Parmesan cheese as the final touch, ready to bake!

 

The lasagna should bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Because the pasta is already half cooked, it doesn't need to bake for an hour like most lasagna recipes.

 

Hot and bubbling.

 

The lasagna looked and smelled amazing when it came out of the oven. It was a little difficult to cut and serve, but who cares what it looked like because it was delicious! :)

 

Lasagna blob.

Plated with fresh salad.

 

We all really enjoyed this lasagna dish. I personally loved the massive amounts of cheese, but the sauce was also very tasty. Because of the way the pasta was cooked, it had a slightly chewy texture which we all thought was interesting...and not in a bad way! I always think making lasagna is going to be very time consuming and difficult, but that wasn't the case with this recipe. The Girls Team will definitely be making this again!

 

Thanks to the Barefoot Contessa for another delicious meal. We love her on MIHM!