LASAGNA WITH SPINACH, MUSHROOMS AND SAUSAGE

This is adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe Made this for a friend who’d just had a baby and she raved. The great thing about this is that you don’t have to boil the lasagna noodles. The second time I made it we used homemade fresh noodles, which just melted in the mouth. It does take over 2 hours start to finish if you’re making the sauce, so this is definitely a weekend project.

olive oil
1 lb. uncooked Italian sausage (sweet or spicy, pork/chicken or turkey)
1 – 3 Tablespoons butter
2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
about ¼ cup white wine
6 – 8 oz. baby spinach, roughly chopped
2 eggs, beaten
15 oz. ricotta cheese
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon pepper
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
about 8 cups TOMATO SAUCE
1 – 2 cups grated Parmesan
1 heaping cup grated mozzarella
1 heaping cup grated fontina

Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Remove casings from sausage, then cut into small chunks and brown. Remove sausage from the pan and reserve. Add butter, and then mushrooms, and sauté. Once the mushrooms have browned, add wine and sauté until the liquid is almost gone. Add spinach in handfuls, stirring in until it wilts. Once all the spinach is cooked, remove from heat and reserve.

Preheat the oven to 375. Beat together eggs, ricotta, basil, oregano and pepper. Spoon a cup of the tomato sauce into a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish. Place 3 noodles (cover the area of the dish) over the sauce. Spread another cup of sauce over the noodles, and sprinkle half the sausage and then half the spinach/mushroom mixture over that. Spoon over half of ricotta mixture, then about 1/3 of the cheeses. Place 3 more noodles, then layer sauce, sausage, spinach/mushroom, ricotta and cheeses again. Place last layer of noodles, then another cup of sauce and the last of the cheese. Cover with foil and bake 30 – 40 minutes, until noodles are tender and sauce bubbly, then uncover and bake 15 – 20 minutes longer. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.