Easy Turkey Lasagna

Wednesday - The Double-Blogger Issue!

Well, I didn't have my Internet access last night so today I have two blog entries. First, about our little April Fool's jokes and, now, my entry into Shan's What's Cooking Wednesday. This is my recipe for Easy Turkey Lasagna that I actually wanted to write about awhile ago, but I couldn't find my pictures. The recipe was adapted from Michael Smith's "Speedy Lasagna" - modified to include ground turkey and turkey sausages instead of the beef. Here's the ingredients list:

Tomato Sauce:

3 tbsps of olive oil

2 x med. onions, peeled and chopped

10 x garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 lb ground beef (we used turkey)

4 x Italian sausages (we used turkey sausages

1 x 28 ox can tomatoes, crushed or pureed

1 x small can tomato paste

2 cups beef stock (we used chicken stock)

3 tbsps dried oregano

2 tbsps dried basil

3 x bay leaves

salt and pepper

Cheese Sauce

2 x eggs, beaten

1/2 cup 35% cream

1 lb ricotta cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 cups grated mozzarella cheese

salt and pepper

Assembly

1 box ready-to-bake lasagna noodles

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Tomato Sauce: Heat the oil in a large sauce pot and add the onions. Saute until they soften and turn golden brown (about 5 mins), then add the garlic. Saute a few moments more then add the ground meat. Chop up into small bits while cooking. Add the tomatoes and their juice, tomato paste, stock, oregano, basil, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Stir well until the mixture is simmering and heated through.

Cheese Sauce: Whisk eggs and cream together, then stir in the cheeses. Season with salt and pepper

Assembly: Preheat oven to 375. Layer ingredients in a 9"x13"x3" baking pan. Follow this sequence - a cup or so of sauce, layer of noodles, half of the cheese sauce, one third of the grated Parmesan, noodle layer, meat sauce layer, noodle layer, remaining cheese sauce, one third of the grated Parmesan, noodle layer, remaining meat sauce, remaining Parmesan. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hr. Remove foil during last 15 minutes of cooking (or, just last 5 minutes if you used chicken/turkey-so it doesn't get dried out) to allow top to get golden and crusty.

Results: Okay...that ~was~ a lot of typing and it may ~seem~ like a lot of work, but it really wasn't too bad and I thought it was really, really, good. As someone who doesn't eat beef I was missing out on lasagna (veggie lasagna is okay, but just not the same). With the turkey sausages and ground turkey this was really nice and filling (and I'm sure jam packed with saturated fat thanks to all that cheese), and a great treat for a change. Dave thought it was "a bit dry", but I think that's just because he is used to the beef which will add way more grease to the lasagna. This was really good! I ate it for three days following as leftovers. mmmm.