- 10
- 20 mins
- 80 mins
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
- 28 ounces canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (skip or reduce if you don't like it spicy)
- 1 pound spicy (or sweet if you prefer) ground sausage
- 1 (6 ounce) bag of spinach
- 1 (14 ounce) can of artichoke hearts, drained
- 16 ounces (2 bars) cream cheese, softened
- Zest and juice from 1 lemon
- 1 box oven-ready lasagna noodles (or pre-boiled regular lasagna noodles)
- 2 cups low moisture shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
Preparation
Step 1
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large sauce pot, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil until shimmering. Add the yellow onion and cook until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant.
Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes (you may want to use a splatter guard so you aren't cleaning up sauce all over your stove later). Remove from the heat and set aside.
While the sauce is cooking, in a large sauté or frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil until shimmering, then add the ground sausage, breaking it up with a spoon or spatula. Brown the meat until cooked completely through. Drain off the grease, and set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor, first puree the artichoke hearts and then pure the spinach in batches until it is completely broken down and looks like a pesto.
Cut the creamed cheese bars into small squares and add to the spinach and artichoke in the food processor. Also add the lemon zest and juice.
Puree it all until it is fully combined, then scrape the cream cheese mixture into a bowl.
Get your extra-deep 9x12 pan out (seriously, the deepest one you have!) and line up your layer mixtures next to it (I like to line them up in order so I don't miss something as I go along).
Start with a thin layer of the tomato sauce along the bottom of the pan and top with a layer of the lasagna noodles. On top of the noodles spread the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle on the browned sausage, and finish with the shredded mozzarella.
Repeat the layers: sauce, noodles, cream cheese, sausage, and mozzarella until you are almost at the top of the pan. Finish the top of the dish with a final layer of noodles, sauce and any remaining mozzarella as well as the ¼ cup of grated parmesan.
Finally, cover the entire dish with a tent of aluminum foil, trying to keep the foil from touching the top of the lasagna.
Bake the dish in the 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for 40 minutes covered, then remove the foil and bake uncovered for another 20 minutes until the top is bubbly and golden.
Instructions