This is a recipe for delicious homemade lasagna. It takes a while to put together, especially if you don’t have tomato sauce that’s already made, but it’s worth it! I sometimes use oven-ready lasagne when I’m in a hurry. I know it’s a sacrilege(!) to Italians but sometimes I just don’t have the time to boil regular lasagne sheets.

By the way, in case you’re wondering, lasagna is the name of the dish, and lasagne, which is the plural of lasagna, are the actual noodles.

I usually mix part skim ricotta cheese with low fat cottage cheese but you can use all ricotta cheese, either whole or part skim. I also drain the cheese in a strainer before mixing to get rid of some of the whey, otherwise it will be too wet. This recipe calls for sausage or ground beef, and spinach, but you can leave either one or both out.

 Ingredients Serves 6 – 8 people

1 box of lasagne noodles
tomato sauce
1 lb part skim ricotta cheese (or 1/2 lb part skim ricotta cheese and 1/2 lb low fat cottage cheese)
1/2 lb chopped cooked sausage or ground beef (can also leave this out)
1 c frozen spinach (can leave this out)
1 c grated percorino romano cheese
1 lb part skim mozzarella cheese
1 egg
salt, to taste

1. Drain the ricotta cheese (and cottage cheese). Also, if using frozen spinach, let thaw and squeeze out any extra liquid, then chop. Boil the noodles until almost cooked (leave al dente), unless you are using oven-ready lasagne.
2. Preheat the oven to 375°.
3. In a large bowl, mix together ricotta cheese (and cottage cheese if using), cooked sausage or beef, spinach, grated cheese, salt, and egg.

4. Spoon just enough tomato sauce to cover the bottom of a 9″ x 13″ baking dish and place a layer of lasagne noodles on top of the sauce. Spoon 1/3 of the cheese mixture onto the noodles and spread evenly.

5. Spoon some of the tomato sauce over the cheese and spread evenly.

6. Repeat the layering 2 more times, then add remaining sauce over the last layer of noodles and top with mozzarella.

7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake for about 5 minutes more to brown the cheese. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes before cutting it.

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