Meat & Veggie Lasagna w/ Fresh Pasta

Lasagna Noodles

1. Use the Phillips pasta maker to make 15, ~8 inch lasagna noodles (1 lb)

2. While making the noodles, bring a 10-quart pot of well-salted (at least 1 tbs. salt) water to a boil over high heat. Put a large bowl of ice water near the pot of boiling water. Line a rimmed baking sheet with two clean kitchen towels or sheets of parchment and have more towels or parchment ready.

3. Put 3 or 4 noodles in the boiling water. Once the water returns to a boil, cook for about 30 seconds. With a large wire skimmer, carefully transfer them to the ice water to stop the cooking. Repeat with the remaining noodles.

4. Drain the noodles and rinse under cold water. Very gently squeeze each noodle to remove excess water and then spread it flat on the towel-lined baking sheet. Layer the noodles between clean towels (or parchment) and set aside until you’re ready to assemble the lasagne.

Meat Sauce

1. In a large sauté pan or stockpot, cook the sausage and onion over medium-high heat until the sausage is completely browned, crumbling it with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add garlic, tomato paste and crushed red pepper flakes and sauté for 2 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the wine, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan.

2. Add the tomatoes, roasted red peppers, oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Use the wooden spoon to break up the tomatoes into small pieces as the sauce continues to cook. Once the sauce reaches a simmer, reduce heat to medium to maintain the simmer. Then let the sauce continue to simmer and reduce down for about 10-15 minutes, or until about half of the juices have evaporated. (You still want the sauce to be fairly juicy, just not overly so.) Discard bay leaf. Remove pan from heat and set aside until ready to use.

Ricotta Mixture

1. Finely chop the carrots, red bell pepper, zucchini, and yellow onion. In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Once shimmering, add the veggies, and salt. Cook, stirring every couple of minutes, until the veggies are golden on the edges, about 8 to 12 minutes.

2. Add a few large handfuls of spinach. Cook, stirring frequently, until the spinach has wilted. Repeat with remaining spinach and cook until all of the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside.

3. Pour half of the cottage cheese (½ cup), and half the ricotta (½ cup), into the processor and blend it until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. No need to rinse out the bowl of the food processor this time; just put it back onto the machine because you’ll need it later.

4. Transfer the cooked veggies and spinach mixture to the bowl of the food processor. Pulse until they are more finely chopped (but not puréed!), about 5 to 7 times, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of whipped cottage cheese. Top with the remaining cottage cheese, remaining ricotta, parmesan, basil and egg, then add ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt (to taste) and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Then stir until combined. Now it’s lasagna assembly time!

Assembly & Cooking

1. Heat the oven to 375°F and mist a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. First layer: Spread 1.5 cups of the sauce mixture evenly along the bottom of the pan. Then add a layer of lasagna noodles (so that the surface of the pan is covered, more or less), followed by ⅓ of the ricotta mixture (which I recommend adding in small spoonfuls, which you can then spread out into an even layer), followed by 1 cup of shredded mozzarella.

3. Second layer: Evenly layer ⅓ of the remaining sauce, 1 more round of lasagna noodles, ½ of the remaining ricotta mixture, and 1 cup shredded mozzarella.

4. Third layer: Evenly layer ½ of the remaining sauce, 1 more round of lasagna noodles, and all of the remaining ricotta mixture..

5. Fourth layer: Evenly layer all of the remaining sauce, 1 cup shredded mozzarella.

6. Wrap a sheet of parchment paper around the top of the lasagna (or Loosely tent aluminum foil to cover the pan, but don’t let the foil touch the cheese). Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the parchment paper (or aluminum foil) and bake for 15-20 more minutes, until the sauce is bubbly around the edges and the top of the cheese starts to bubble and turn golden.

7. Transfer the pan to a wire baking rack and cool for 15 to 20 minutes, so it has time to set and cool down to a reasonable temperature. Sprinkle additional basil (or other desired toppings), slice, serve warm and enjoy!