Ooh-la-la-sagna!

By Gibby

Another Podleski sisters recipe for Lasagna. When buying feta cheese for this recipe, look for the kind flavoured with sun-dried tomatoes and basil. When it comes to the shredded cheese, there are many delicious, pre-shredded 4-cheese blends on the market. Any blend labelled “Italian” would be perfect for lasagna, as would combinations of Asiago, Parmesan, Provolone, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella or Cheddar.

Ingredients

• Sauce
• 5 sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped red onions
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 1/4 pounds (568 g) extra-lean ground turkey
• 8 ounces (227 g) lean Italian turkey sausage
• 1 cup packed grated unpeeled zucchini
• 1 jar (700 mL) your favourite tomato-based pasta sauce
• 1 can (19 oz/540 mL) tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained, chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves
• Filling
• 2 cups light ricotta cheese
• 2 ounces (57 g) crumbled feta cheese with herbs (see Tip)
• 1 package frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry and chopped
• 1 egg
• 12 whole wheat lasagna noodles
• 1 1/2 cups packed shredded 4-cheese blend (6 oz/170 g)

Preparation

Step 1

Sauce
1.Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water over sun-dried tomatoes and let soak while you prepare the sauce.
2.To make sauce, heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add onions and garlic. Cook and stir until onions have softened, about 4 minutes.
3.Add ground turkey and sausage, breaking up any large pieces. Cook until meat is no longer pink. Add zucchini and cook for 2 minutes. Add all remaining sauce ingredients, except fresh basil. When sun-dried tomatoes are soft enough, drain and chop them (fine) and add to sauce. Bring sauce to a boil.
4.Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Stir in minced basil and remove from heat.

Filling
1.Combine all filling ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to use. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Drain well.
To Assemble
1.Preheat oven to 375ºF. To assemble lasagna, lightly spray a deep 9 x 13-inch casserole dish with cooking spray. Spoon some meat sauce over bottom of dish.
2.Arrange 4 noodles over sauce and layer as follows: 1/3 meat sauce, 1/2 4-cheese blend, 4 noodles, 1/3 meat sauce, all of the ricotta/spinach mixture, 4 noodles, 1/3 meat sauce, 1/2 4-cheese blend.
3.Cover loosely with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 more minutes. Let lasagna stand for 10 minutes before serving.