Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb Italian sausages, spicy, casings removed
1 cup onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp red pepper, dried, crushed
28 oz tomatoes , canned, crushed, with added puree
14 ½ oz diced tomatoes, canned, with green pepper and onion, liquid reserved
1 ½ cup fresh basil leaves
15 oz ricotta cheese, part-skim, plus 1 cup
1 ½ cup mozzarella cheese, grated
¾ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 large egg
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
12 lasagna noodles , no-boil, from 1 8 oz. package
3 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
olive oil spray, nonstick
Preparation
To make sauce, heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat.
Add crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes with juices. Bring sauce to boil.
Add sausages, onion, garlic, oregano and crushed red pepper and sauté until sausage is cooked through, mashing sausage into small pieces with back of fork, about 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes to blend flavors. Season with salt and pepper.
To make filling, using on/off turns, chop fresh basil leaves finely in processor.
Add ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, egg, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Using on/off turns, process filling until just blended and texture is still chunky.
To assemble, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread 1 1/4 C. sauce in 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish.
Arrange 3 noodles on sauce. Drop 1 1/2 C. filling over noodles, then spread evenly to cover. Sprinkle with 3/4 C. Mozzarella cheese and 1/4 C. Parmesan cheese. Repeat layering of sauce, noodles, filling and cheeses 2 more times. Top with remaining 3 noodles.
Spoon remaining sauce on top of noodles. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Spray large piece of foil with nonstick olive oil spray. Cover lasagna with foil, sprayed side down.
Bake lasagna 40 minutes.
Carefully uncover. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake until noodles are tender, sauce bubbles thickly and edges of lasagna are golden and puffed, about 20 minutes.
Transfer to work surface; let stand 15 minutes before serving.
