swing shift lasagna

 

My husband works swing shift and isn't home for dinner every night. Instead, he'll bring whatever I made for dinner to work with him the next day. This limits what type of food I cook since not all dinners are easily packed up to-go nor does everything reheat very well. When planning dinner, I like to meet these minimum requirements:

 

1. It has to be husband approved

2. It has to be easy to pack up and take to work

3. It has to reheat well

4. And it has to be fancy. Because we're fancy people, folks. Fancy.

 

This lasagna meets all those requirements. But wait, you're thinking, what makes it fancy??

 

Two words: fresh basil.

 

 

I've been cooking since I was little and always watched my dad create meals out of random ingredients in the fridge. That's exactly how I cook today. I do follow recipes from time to time, but usually I cook out of my own creativity. One thing I've learned is that using fresh herbs in any dish can impart a richer flavor and up the fanciness level.

 

I rarely measure anything. I've tried to keep track of the amounts of each ingredient I used so I can share this recipe. Feel free to add more or less of any item and make it your own!

 

Ingredients:

 

 

1 lb. Hot Italian Sausage

9 sheets of Barilla Oven-Ready Lasagne

1 8 oz. package of shredded Italian cheese blend

1 24 oz. jar of pasta sauce (I like Prego Traditional)

1/2 to 1 cup of Ricotta cheese

8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

8-10 leaves of fresh basil, chiffonade

Salt & Pepper

 

Directions:

 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°F

2. In a large skillet, brown the sausage over medium-high heat until cooked

3. While the sausage is cooking, chop the onions and garlic, slice the mushrooms and chiffonade the basil. To chiffonade, stack the leaves on top of each other, roll them up then slice the roll into little ribbons

4. Once the sausage is cooked, remove from the pan and set aside

5. Lower the heat to medium and add your mushrooms and onions, cook until soft and slightly browned

mmmmm...

 

6. Once your veggies are done cooking, add the sausage back to the pan, stir to combine and remove from the heat

7. Add the garlic and basil to the ricotta cheese. I don't like as much ricotta, so I use about 1/2 cup, but you can use more. Season with salt and pepper

ricotta mixture

 

8. Spread about 1/2 cup of pasta sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish

9. Top with 3 sheets of the noodles (it may not cover the dish, but they'll expand while baking)

10. Top the noodles with half the ricotta mixture, half the sausage and veggie mixture, 1/3 of the remaining sauce and 1/3 of the shredded cheese

11. Repeat this once more

12. Top with the last 3 sheets and top with the remaining sauce and cheese

 

13. Cover with foil and bake for 25-30 minutes.

14. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes to brown the cheese. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before cutting

 

Enjoy!