Birthday Lasagna :)

Food, Recipes

Taylor wanted lasagna for her birthday dinner (21!) – and this one was probably the largest one I’ve ever made. Had to use a large roasting pan.  I looked at a few different recipes, and kind of did a combination of a few of them.

Lasagna 🙂
Recipe Type: main course
Author: Ray
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 16
Baked this Friday evening, and will reheat on Sunday – Lasagna always seems to taste best reheated, so why not bake it twice to begin with 🙂
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds ground port
  • 1.5 pounds ground sirloin
  • 1 pound mild Italian sausage
  • 2 cans diced tomatoes
  • 2 cans tomato paste
  • 1 large white onion, diced fine
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 diced bell peppers (red, yellow and orange)
  • 2 pkgs. frozen chopped spinach
  • 2 pounds ricotta cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 pound provolone cheese, sliced
  • 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup Marsala
  • 2 tbsp. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp. Italian seasoning
  • 1 tbsp. dried basil
  • 500g lasagna noodles
Instructions
  1. Brown pork, beef and sausage in a large stockpot, adding minced onion and garlic as meat starts to brown.
  2. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, Italian seasoning, basil, salt, pepper, marsala, balsamic vinegar, and mix thoroughly.
  3. Let simmer for an hour, then add chopped peppers, and simmer for another hour.
  4. While sauce is simmering, defrost frozen spinach
  5. In an appropriately sized mixing bowl, mix thawed spinach, ricotta, eggs, and nutmeg.
  6. Spray roasting pan with cooking spray
  7. Spoon a thin layer of sauce into bottom of pan
  8. Place 1 layer of uncooked lasagna noodles over sauce
  9. Spoon another layer of sauce over noodles.
  10. Spread 1/3 of ricotta mixture over sauce
  11. Add another layer of noodles
  12. Add layer of sauce
  13. Add layer of provolone slices
  14. Add layer of sauce
  15. Add 1/3 ricotta mixture
  16. Add layer of noodles
  17. Add more sauce
  18. Add last third of ricotta mixture
  19. Add last layer of noodles
  20. Add last layer of sauce
  21. Evenly spread monterey jack and mozzarella
  22. Sprinkle parmesan over top
  23. Bake covered for 40 minutes at 375
  24. Remove cover, and bake for another 30 minutes.

After initially cooking the lasagna on Friday night (finished at 1:30 AM), I let it cool down, then put it into the fridge Saturday morning at 9:00 AM.  On Sunday, I reheated the lasagna (covered) for 3 hours at 250*F, then added a couple loaves of garlic bread to the oven, removed the lid from the lasagna, and increased the temperature to 375*F for 20 minutes.  Everyone enjoyed it!