Italian Sausage Lasagna

This recipe is my contribution to this month’s Recipe Round Up. I don’t often freeze main dishes, but one of the ones I do freeze is lasagna. Most lasagna recipes freeze well, but one of our favorite ways to have lasagna is with Italian sausage and spinach, so I’m sharing a lasagna recipe that has sausage and spinach in it. This will make two 9 x 13 pans of lasagna, one to eat the day you put it together and one to freeze for later.

• 2 lbs. sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
• 2 green bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3-28 oz. cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 Tbsps. unsalted butter, melted
• 1-16 oz. bag fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 cups grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
• 3 cups grated mozzarella cheese
• 24 oven ready lasagna noodles
  

1. Crumble and sauté sausage in a heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until well browned. Drain off fat. Set sausage aside and wipe skillet clean with a paper towel. 
2. Add oil to skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add sliced peppers, sliced onion, and 4 cloves garlic. Cover and cook about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft.
   
3. Stir in tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20-30 minutes. Stir in reserved sausage. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set sauce aside.
4. Melt butter in a separate heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sauté 4 cloves garlic about 10 minutes, until soft. Stir in spinach and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
5. Combine ricotta and mozzarella cheese in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
6. Preheat oven to temperature 350°F and lightly oil each 9 x 13 pan.
   
7. Pour 1/6 of the tomato sauce into each pan. Spread evenly.
   
8. Arrange 4 noodles in each pan and spread 1/4 of the spinach mixture over the noodles. Spread 1/4 of the cheese mixture evenly over the spinach in each pan. 
   
9. Repeat this layering process (tomato sauce, noodles, spinach mixture and cheese mixture) once more.
   
10. Top  each pan with 4 more noodles and 1/2 the remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
    
11. Bake about 1 hour, until bubbly and browned on top. Cool 10-15 minutes before serving.
12. Cool the pan for freezing as quickly as possible. Cover it tightly and place in freezer.
    
13. To reheat, place frozen in the oven and turn on heat to temperature 375°F. Bake about 1 hour or until bubbly.
    

Be sure you check out all the other freezer recipes at Motherhood Apologia.

Comments

[ellen b]

I wish I had that thawing right now to throw in the oven. Thank you for sharing this recipe...

[Simply A Musing Blog]

My goodness, this sounds delicious! I am going directly to Albertsons tomorrow and I am not passing "go".

[Kim in ON]

This sounds really yummy!

[rosemary]

My family loves lasagne! And I love the idea of having one to eat right now and one to pull out of the freezer later. Thanks for the great recipe!

[Robin]

Hey Rebecca,

THIS looks like "the" recipe my husband has been asking me to find :). My lasagna is not very "Italian", it's more like an Americanized version. It's a nice twist on one of my all-time favorites (plus, with the addition of peppers and spinach, more healthy).

It's not even lunchtime, and I find myself VERY hungry ;).