Red Lasagna

I have entered this recipe into Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by Kevin at Closet Cooking, so check it out next friday December 11th.

I know this recipe looks complicated but once you do it, it is pretty easy, just time consuming!

Ingredients:

12 lasagna noodles

28oz. tomato sauce or jar spaghetti sauce

1 large or 2 small green bell pepper, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

1 pound ground beef

2 hot italian sausage

18 oz. ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded parmesan

3 cups shredded mozzarella

2 teas. finely chopped garlic

10 fresh basil leaves

1/2 bunch italian parsley

1 egg

salt & pepper

1 cup water

Make It:

Heat a large pot over medium, add ground beef, stir and cook until browned. Add italian sausage, squeezing it out of casing and breaking it up with a spoon. Stir and cook until browned, drain off fat. Add bell pepper and onion to pot, cook and stir until softened. Pour tomato sauce into pot, stir to combine. Add a 1/4 of the italian parsley bunch, leave whole. Bring to a boil, stir, lower heat and cover. Cook for an hour, stirring occasionally. Chop 7 of the basil leaves and the rest of the italian parsley. In a large bowl mix ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup parmesan, chopped basil and parsley, stir to combine. Add salt and pepper, taste, if you need more seasoning add it. In a separate bowl lightly beat egg. Pour egg into cheese mixture and stir to combine, cover and place in refrigerator( this step can be done the day before if you like). Chop 3 remaining basil leaves. Uncover sauce, remove italian parsley and stir in basil, taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Turn off heat under sauce and add one cup water. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large casserole dish ladle in 1/5 of your sauce, should be enough to cover the bottom of the dish, then layer 3 noodles(press noodles in sauce a little) then spread 1/4 cheese mixture over noodles, then sprinkle mozzarella and parmesan, then ladle on 1/5 of sauce. Repeat this step 3 more times. On top layer pour on rest of sauce, and sprinkle on rest of mozzarella and parmesan. Cover with foil(I spray the side of my foil that will be on the cheese with cooking spray) bake for 1 hour, check and if cheese on top is mostly melted remove cover and bake another 30 minutes, remove from oven and let sit 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!