I'm a huge fan of lasagna, but every time I make it I like to mix things up a bit. Earlier this week I had the chance to make a quick lasagna for dinner. A quick lasagna is one that doesn't require an exceptional amount of prep work – it still takes an hour in the oven, but prior to baking is fairly fast. One of the ways to achieve this to not boil the pasta – it cooks just fine while the lasagna bakes. Another key is that all of the ingredients are purchased – no homemade pasta or sauce.
In addition to the standard ingredients I combined a finely diced red onion, a chopped head of garlic, and 3oz of sun dried tomatoes. The sweetness from the sun dried tomato and carmalized onion is quite noticeable in this dish. The garlic is strong, but not overpowering.
Sausage, Red Onion, and Sun Dried Tomato Lasagna
- 1lb Italian sausage
- large red onion, chopped finely
- head of garlic, chopped finely
- 3oz sun dried tomatoes, chopped finely
- 1 tbs dried red pepper flakes
- 1 package ricotta cheese (I used light)
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella, reserve 1 cup for top of lasagna
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 egg (apparently optional as it got left out with no ill effect)
- 1-2 jars of sauce
Preheat oven to 350° F. In a saute pan, brown sausage, and drain leaving enough fat in the pan for onions. Sweat onions over medium-low heat until carmalized. Add garlic, sun dried tomato, and red pepper flakes and cook over medium heat until garlic is cooked. Return sausage to pan, add 1 cup of sauce, and combine well. Remove from heat to cool slightly. Combine cheeses and egg and mix well. Pour 1 cup of sauce into the bottom of a lasagna pan and add a layer of noodles. Top noodles with sausage mixture, then cheese mixture. Repeat with additional layers of noodles. Top the last layer with noodles and cover with sauce. Bake covered for 40 minutes. Uncover, add remaining mozzarella and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes and serve.
Prep: 35 minutes Cook: 60 minutes