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Entrees
Italian
10 servings
1 hour 10 minutes
1 hour 25 minutes
5 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
4 cups Whole Milk -- held at room temperature
1 pinch Fresh Nutmeg -- grated
1 1/2 cups your Favorite Marinara
4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil -- divided use
1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
1 Melissa's Perfect Sweet Onion -- sliced thin
To taste Kosher Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 pound Ground Beef
1 pound Ground Italian Sausage
2 cloves Melissa's Peeled Garlic -- minced
1 pound Ricotta Cheese
1 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika
3 Eggs
1 9 oz. package "No Boil" Lasagna Sheets
2 Melissa's New Mexico Hatch Chiles -- roasted; peeled; seeded; sliced
1 12 oz. package Mozzarella Cheese -- sliced
2 small cans Sliced Black Olives -- drained
1 package Frozen Spinach -- thawed; squeezed dry
1 cup Cheddar-Jack Cheese -- shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese -- shredded
Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
In a large sauce pan, melt the butter.
Add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Slowly add the milk while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
Simmer, while stirring constantly, until the sauce coats the back of the spoon, 8-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the nutmeg and marinara. Set aside to cool.
In a large sauté pan, heat 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 1 Tablespoon of butter.
Next add the sliced onions, season with salt and pepper and caramelize, stirring often.
Once caramelized, remove from the pan and set aside to cool. In the same pan, heat the other 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.
Add the ground beef, ground sausage and garlic and cook until browned. Once browned, remove from the heat to cool.
In a bowl, add the ricotta cheese, smoked paprika and eggs. Mix well and set aside.
To assemble, spray a 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Coat the bottom of the dish with some of the sauce.
Place a layer of pasta across the bottom and make the layers as follows.
Place a layer of the ricotta cheese mixture, then Hatch chile, caramelized onion, the meat mixture, some mozzarella, black olives, spinach, cheddar-jack, parmesan and more sauce.
Repeat for at least 2 more layers.
When fully assembled, cover the lasagna with aluminum foil, place it on a cookie sheet and place it in the preheated oven.
Bake for 1 hour, remove the foil and bake for 15 minutes longer. Remove it from the over and let it rest for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
Cheese cloth works very well to squeeze out the water in the frozen/thawed spinach.
