Patrick's Four-Cheese Lasagna

"This is a traditional lasagna with tons of flavor -- not bland. I've stayed with this one for quite a long time and it seems to have universal appeal for all ages. I have also used as many as 8 minced garlic cloves to bump it up even further on the flavor scale with great results."
 
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photo by Bone Man photo by Bone Man
photo by Bone Man
photo by Bone Man photo by Bone Man
Ready In:
1hr 1min
Ingredients:
14
Serves:
12
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ingredients

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directions

  • De-case the Italian sausages and break the meat up into a large cooking pot with the ground chuck. Brown the mix, breaking up chunks as much as possible, and drain.
  • Return the browned meat to the cooking pot and add the spaghetti sauce, Italian spices, red wine, and minced garlic. (To make a batch of Italian spices, use Dee514's recipe #38293 thus combining: 2 tablespoons dried basil, 2 tablespoons dried marjoram, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon dried oregano, 1 tablespoon dried thyme, 1 tablespoon dried rosemary, 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes) Simmer for 15 minutes, covered, stirring frequently. At the end of 15 minutes, remove from heat and set aside.
  • Boil the lasagna noodles in a large pot of water until tender and drain. Shock the hot noodles in a rinse of cold water and re-drain (this keeps noodles from getting mushy during the baking process).
  • Spray three 8" x 8" casserole dishes with cooking spray. Put a small amount of sauce in each dish to just barely cover the bottom of each one.
  • Next, layer each dish (do one at a time) in this order: (layer #1) lasagna noodles, sauce, Ricotto cheese; (layer #2) noodles, sauce, Monterey Jack and Romano, spinach; (layer #3) noodles, sauce, mozarella cheese and garnish the top with a very light sprinkling of dried basil. (Lasagna noodles are about a foot long when cooked so you'll have to trim the long ones and fit the shorter pieces into the layers as needed. If they are sticking together, just dampen them a little with a couple of tablespoons of cool water.
  • Cover each casserole with aluminum foil ("tent" the foil a bit so that it doesn't touch the cheese topping). At this point, you can decide which casseroles to freeze and which to bake.
  • Bake casseroles in a pre-heated 375-degree F. oven for 40 minutes, covered. Then take off the aluminum foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, remove from oven. (When baking a frozen lasagna, add 20 minutes to the "covered" cooking time).
  • Allow the lasagna to rest (on a rack, if available) for 15 minutes and then cut into serving pieces (I get four servings per each 8" x 8" casserole).

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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>
 
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