Four Cheese Spinach Sausage Lasagna Recipes

FOUR CHEESE AND SPINACH LASAGNA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat and salt it generously. Add the lasagna noodles and boil, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat until the garlic begins to brown. Add the spinach, season with salt and pepper and stir until the spinach dries out and the garlic is fragrant, about 3 minutes. Cool.
• Mix the cottage cheese, goat cheese, Parmesan/Pecorino, 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese, lemon zest, nutmeg, cayenne, and cooled spinach in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the egg.
• Cover the bottom of a 9- by 13-inch casserole with a thin layer of Tomato Sauce. Cover with 3 of the noodles placed side-to-side, but not overlapping. Top with a 1/4 of the cheese mixture and about a half cup of Tomato Sauce. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Repeat to make 2 more layers. Cover lasagna layers with remaining noodles, dollop remaining cheese mixture on top. Drizzle with remaining Tomato Sauce, then scatter the remaining 2 cups mozzarella on top. Bake, uncovered, until the lasagna is hot and bubbly, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let lasagna stand for 10 minutes before serving.
• Put the olive oil and garlic in a saucepan and cook until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and salt. Break up the tomatoes into small chunks with a wooden spoon and bring to a boil over high heat, lower heat to a brisk simmer, and cook until thickened, about 30 to 40 minutes. While sauce cooks, tear basil leaves into small pieces. Remove the sauce from the heat, stir in the basil, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, to taste.

FOUR CHEESE SPINACH & SAUSAGE LASAGNA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Mix eggs, ricotta, spinach and 1/2 cup grated cheese until blended.
• Spread 1 cup of the pasta sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with layers of 1/3 of the noodles and half each of the ricotta mixture and sausage. Top with layers of 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1-1/2 cups of the remaining pasta sauce. Repeat all layers. Top with remaining noodles, sauce and mozzarella. Sprinkle with parsley; cover.
• Bake 1 hour 10 min. or until heated through, uncovering and topping with remaining grated cheese after 1 hour. Let stand 10 min. before cutting to serve.

OUR FAVORITE LASAGNA WITH SAUSAGE, SPINACH, AND THREE CHEESES

Steps:

• Preparation:
• Position the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 375°F.
• Make the sauce:
• In a large pot over medium-high heat, heat the oil. Add the sausage, onion and 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook, breaking up sausage with a wooden spoon, until browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add garlic, red-pepper flakes, and tomato paste; cook, stirring often, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes more. Add tomatoes (along with their juice) and oregano; bring to a simmer, and cook, breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon until in small pieces, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more red-pepper flakes if desired.
• Make the filling:
• In the bowl of a food processor, combine all of the filling ingredients and process until mostly smooth.
• Assemble the lasagna:
• Squeeze the spinach in a paper towel or clean dishcloth until very dry. Transfer to a bowl and season with a pinch of salt.
• Coat baking dish with cooking spray and spread the bottom with 2 cups sauce. Top with a layer of three noodles, then a third of the ricotta mixture (about 1 1/3 cups), and a third of the spinach (about 2/3 cup). Sprinkle with 1 cup grated mozzarella.
• Repeat twice more, skipping the mozzarella on the third layer. Top the lasagna with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle the remaining 2 cups mozzarella in clusters so some of the sauce peeks through.
• Place the baking pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Lightly spray a piece of foil with cooking spray, cover the lasagna, and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until lightly browned and bubbly, about 20 minutes more. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.
• DO AHEAD: The sauce can be prepared up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated. The filling can be prepared up to 1 day in advance and refrigerated.

LASAGNA WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND SPINACH

Steps:

• Rinse cooked lasagna noodles and set aside. Be sure that you don't use more than 12 oz. or the lasagna will be too dry.
• Meanwhile, in a dutch oven or other large vessel, put the oil, onion and green bell pepper. Saute over medium heat until the onion is tender.
• Add the sausage and garlic and stir-fry until well browned, chopping up the meat as you stir, to make sure all of the pieces are small.
• Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, oregano, basil and 1 teaspoons salt. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, press out the water from the thawed spinach so that it is very dry. Put the spinach into a medium-size mixing bowl.
• Add the cottage cheese, egg, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoons salt and black pepper to the spinach. Stir until well mixed.
• In another medium-size bowl put the grated Mozzarella cheese.
• In a lasagna pan that you have oiled, put down 1/3 of the tomato-meat sauce.
• Cover with 1/2 of the lasagna noodles.
• Top with 1/2 of the spinach-cottage cheese filling.
• Top with half of the mozzarella cheese.
• Repeat using 1/3 of the tomato-meat sauce, remaining noodles, remaining spinach filling and mozzarella cheese.
• Top with the remaining 1/3 of the tomato-meat sauce and sprinkle 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese over the very top.
• Bake in a 350 degrees oven for 45 minutes.
• You might wonder whether or not there is enough tomato sauce, but once the lasagna heats up and the cheese gets gooey, there is enough sauce. I don't like a a lasagna with lots of runny heavy tomato sauce that covers the taste of everything else in the lasagna. If you feel like you need a bit more, add an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce to the tomato-meat sauce.

SPINACH AND SAUSAGE LASAGNA

Steps:

• Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, water, Italian seasoning and salt. Combine ricotta, spinach and 1 cup mozzarella cheese in a small bowl., Spread 1 cup sauce mixture in a greased oval 5-qt. slow cooker. Layer with three noodles (breaking noodles if necessary to fit), 1-1/4 cups sauce mixture and half of the cheese mixture. Repeat layers. Layer with remaining noodles and sauce mixture; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese., Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until noodles are tender. Sprinkle servings with Parmesan cheese.

FOUR-CHEESE SPINACH LASAGNA

Steps:

• In a large skillet, saute vegetables and garlic in oil until crisp-tender. Remove from the heat; set aside. , In a small heavy saucepan, whisk flour and milk until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat; stir in 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Cook until cheese is melted, about 1 minute longer. Remove from the heat; stir in spinach. Set 1 cup aside. , In a large bowl, combine the cottage cheese, mozzarella and Swiss cheese. Spread 1/2 cup of spinach mixture in a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Layer with 4 noodles, half of the cheese mixture, half of the vegetables and 3/4 cup spinach mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining noodles, reserved spinach mixture and remaining Parmesan cheese. , Cover and bake at 375° for 35 minutes. Uncover; bake until bubbly, about 15 minutes longer. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.