Whenever a friend of mine has a baby, I go immediately to the kitchen and whip up a turkey lasagna! It all goes back to when I had my first baby and a good friend of mine brought over a lasagna and it was completely devoured all week by my husband and I. It's a perfect new baby meal because it can be heated up whenever and it lasts and lasts. My friend Becky just had a baby and so I thought I'd share the process of my "New Baby Lasagna" as I make one for her. Whenever my husband sees me cooking this lasagna his face lights up and he says "Who had a baby?!!" I hope you and your new mommy friends enjoy this recipe too. It was adapted from a Barefoot Contessa recipe and is absolute SCRUMPTIOUS!
Ingredients:
2 Tbls Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
1 Garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1 .5 oz tube parsley herb paste (or 1/2 cup chopped parsley)
1 .5oz tube basil herb paste (or 1/2 cup chopped basil)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 lb lasagna noodles
15 oz ricotta cheese
3 oz goat cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 lb fresh mozzarella
Preheat over to 400 degrees
Heat olive oil in large skillet and add chopped onions. Cook until soft and add garlic and cook for 3 more minutes.
Take the sausage out of its casings by cutting lengthwise into the sausage, putting your finger under the casing and removing it. Throw away casings.
Add the sausage to the skillet and mash up with fork. Cook until brown all the way through.
Add tomatoes, tomato paste 1/2 the parsley and the basil, salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Place lasagna noodles in large bowl and pour boiling water to cover them. Set aside for 20 minutes.
In another large bowl combine ricotta, goat cheese and parmesan cheeses (keep a few tablespoons of the parmesan out to sprinkle on top at the end), the egg, the other half of the parsley and salt and pepper to taste.
Ladle 1/3 of the sauce onto the
bottom of a lasagna pan, spreading it evenly. Add 1/2 of the noodles (I need to cut some with a scissor to fit properly). Thinly slice the mozarella and add 1/2 of it to the pan as the next layer. Then add 1/2 the cheese mixture, spreading evenly. Add another 1/3 of the sauce, the rest of the noodles, mozzarella then cheese mixture. Finish with the rest of the sauce and sprinkle the set aside parmesan cheese on top.
At this point just put foil on top with the words "Cook at 400 degrees for 45 mins to 1 hour" on the foil with a sharpie and deliver!
If this is for you just pop in the over and cook until it's bubbly. ENJOY!!!
xo,
Christine
