Four Cheese Lasagna with Spicy Italian Sausage

~Amanda~

We recently started a Supper Club with two other couples and it’s something we look forward to every month now. Nothing is more exciting than getting together with great friends and enjoying some tasty home cooked meals. This month was mine and Conors turn to host; I had so many ideas going through my head of what to make, but I finally decided on this amazing lasagna. It was such a big hit and we ended up eating the whole pan! Cooking for 8 people is a pretty big task and I wanted to do something that was incredibly delicious, but I also wanted to do a lot of the work ahead of time so I could enjoy my time with our friends the night of the dinner. Lasagna is the perfect dish to do that with because you can, and should, make it a day ahead of time. When lasagna sits for a night in the fridge the flavors have time to meld together and it tastes even better the next day!

I have a favorite lasagna recipe that I’ve been making for many years now which is inspired by Ina Garten’s Lasagna with Turkey Sausage. Ina Garten is one of my all-time favorite chefs because everything she makes is inspiring and appetizing. Over time I have made a few changes to this recipe and I love it more and more each time. One of the biggest changes I made this time around, because I was feeling extremely ambitious, was to make my own homemade gluten-free lasagna noodles. I know, I’m crazy for doing this on a weeknight and I ended up in the kitchen for over 3 hours, but it was soooo worth it. I used my Gluten-Free Pasta Dough recipe and cut the pasta into lasagna size pieces. You can always use store bought pasta for this too and cook it until it’s just al dente.

After the pasta is complete, the next step is to make the different layers of the lasagna. First, the meaty sauce layer; you begin by cooking down an onion. I like to use a red onion, instead of yellow; I find the flavor of the yellow onion a little overpowering and prefer the more mild red onion in my lasagna so the other flavors shine. You then add in the sausage (the original recipe called for sweet Italian turkey sausage, but instead I like to use a spicy Italian pork sausage; I love the extra kick you get from the spicy seasonings as well as the rich flavor from the pork). Finally you add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and some fresh parsley and basil for seasoning and let the sauce cook down for about 20 minutes until it’s thick and delicious.

And now comes the best part; the CHEESE! The reason why this lasagna is so incredible is because you use four, yes four, different cheeses. You make a mixture of ricotta, goat cheese, and parmesan cheese with an egg and parsley in it as one of the layers. And then use mozzarella as a whole other layer. YUM! Once you have your pasta and all the different components for the lasagna prepared, then you can assemble it. Bake the lasagna for 30 minutes the day you make it and then cover and store in the fridge overnight. When you’re ready to eat the next day, cover with foil and heat up at the same temperature until it’s warmed through (about 30-45 minutes). Top with some more mozzarella and broil until it’s melted and bubbly and you’re ready to enjoy some of the best lasagna you’ll ever have (see satisfied supper clubbers below)!