Lasagna, Garfield Style

I'm not exactly sure what did it, but I was recently struck with the compulsion to make lasagna. I've never done it before, mostly because I had heard that it's somewhat difficult to do. That didn't sound fun. But I like lasagna, and decided I wanted some...and so a challenge was born.

One slight problem: I don't usually eat red meat. Solution: ground turkey...check. Here we go.

Ingredients:

• Preferably a batch of freshly made tomato sauce (as described in an earlier post)...possibly even a batch and a half

• 1 package of ground turkey meat (I don't eat turkey because it's leaner, and tend to therefore go for packages NOT labeled "lean"...embrace the fat)

• 1 package of italian turkey sausage (I used Shady Brook Farm brand...only one I saw)

• 1 box of lasagna noodles (mine were some special kind that are ready to go...don't need to be boiled first...still found in the dry pasta section)

• A few handfuls of fresh basil, chopped (so get chopping)

• 1 small white onion, chopped

• 1.5 pints part skim ricotta cheese (although made w/ whole milk is probably even better)
• 3 large eggs
  

• 1.5 packages shredded mozzarella cheese

• About 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

• About 3 or so tbsps garlic paste

• Sea salt or kosher salt (to taste)

• Ground black pepper and/or ground white pepper (to taste)

• A few tbsps of olive oil

• About 2 tbsps of dried parsley flakes

• Dash of oregano

Directions:

Meat:

1. In a food processor (probably an unnecessary step but I wanted to try it!), combine the ground turkey with the turkey sausages and 1 small chopped onion
2. Mix in few pinches of salt/pepper
3. In a large skillet, put about 2-3 tbsps of olive oil (just enough to coat the bottom of the pan) and put on medium heat
4. After about 1 minute, add about 1-2 tbsps of garlic paste and simmer for 30 seconds
5. Add the turkey meat
6. Brown the meat (a small amount of redness remaining is okay because the lasagna will bake in the oven, too)
7. Add the turkey meat to the tomato sauce and mix

The Cheese:

1. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, parmesan cheese, about 1 package of the mozzarella cheese, 3 large eggs, parsley flakes, oregano, and about 1 handful of chopped fresh basil
2. Preheat the oven to 375

The Lasagna Itself:

1. In about a 9" by 13" pan, coat the bottom with a layer of the meat sauce
2. Add a layer of the noodles (box instructions are pretty good here...but again, since these were some sort of special noodles, I didn't need to cook them first, otherwise boil them first before layering)
3. Add a layer of the cheese mixture
4. Mix on top of that another layer of meat sauce
5. Another layer of noodle time
6. Another layer of cheese time
7. Another layer of sauce time
8. Repeat last 3 steps until you run out of noodle layers to add
9. Top with meat sauce and the rest of the mozzarella cheese
10. Loosely cover with foil, but spray the underside with cooking spray to avoid the cheese sticking to the foil
11. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes
12. Take off the foil and continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes
13. After baking, let sit for about 5 minutes before cutting

This may have been my first try at lasagna, but I definitely think that if you follow the directions above you won't be disappointed!