Lasagna. That takes all day.

I had a little bit of sauce and ricotta leftover so I made a small individual size lasagna to eat while waiting for dinner :)  If my pan was deeper I would have added more layers. I cheated and used bottled sauce, make sure you like it as sauce though or you wont like it as lasagna either. I used Paul Newmans brand  (I think the garden) and it's decent. If you make your sauce from scratch feel free to use it here, just make sure it isnt too thin, you will need about 3 - 4 cups of sauce.

I rolled my pasta really thin, so I ended up only using about half of it. You can cut the recipe in half, make thicker noodles, or save what you have leftover for another meal. Homemade noodles freeze well.

Meat sauce

1 lb (90% lean) ground beef
1/2 lb Italian sausage
1 bottle spaghetti sauce

2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 low sodium beef bouillon cube

Cook the meat in separate pans until cooked through. Combine the causes and beef cube, reserving 3/4 cup of the sauce without meat in it. Combine the sauces, tomatoes, and meat; blend the sauce to crumble the meat really fine and crush the tomatoes. I used my immersion blender, if using a high powered blended, such as a vitamix, be really careful or you will end up with meat paste. I know this for a fact. Set aside. 

Cheese Layer
15 oz. Whole milk ricotta cheese
4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour

2 c. half-an-half, at room temp

Salt to taste, I used 1/2 tsp
1 (8 oz) bag shredded Italian five cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan until bubbly. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring until bubbly. Whisk in the milk and simmer until slightly thick, if the milk is cold when you add it to the roux it will seize up and be lumpy. Remove from the heat and stir in half the bag of cheese. Keep stirring until melted and really thick and stringy. Mix in the ricotta and salt to taste.

Pasta

3 1/2 c. flour

6 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp water

Combine the salt and the flour, I did this with my hands to also remove and clumps in the flour. Whisk together the eggs and water. Add the eggs to the flour and mix until a dough forms, adding more water if needed. On a heavily floured surface, knead the dough until smooth. Cover with plastic and let rest for 30 minutes. I used my grandmothers hand crank pasta maker to roll it out pretty thin.

In the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish add enough tomato sauce to cover the bottom. Add noodles, sauce, noodles, ricotta, noodles, sauce, alternating layers until the pan is full. Make sure with the tomato sauce layer you add lots, more than you think you will want, it disappears when baking. Pour reserved tomato sauce over the top and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese. Pre-heat oven to 375. Cover with tin foil and bake for 20 minutes; turn the oven off and leave the door shut for 40 minutes. Turn the oven back on and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the tin foil and bake until the cheese is golden.

Let rest 15 minutes before slicing.

Pumpkin Cream Pasta

This is one of the tastiest things I have ever eaten. I love it.

You can make it with 2 sausage links and a can of white beans. I usually buy several packages of Italian sausage and freeze them in packs of two links. I then use them to add flavor to dishes, and then add beans for bulk and variety. This reduces the cost and the fat content of the dish.

I used mild Italian sausage and it had a tiny bit of spice to it. Feel free to use sweet or hot depending on your taste, I would have loved hot but my kids wouldn't like it as much.

Cream sauces tend to be a little dry when eaten as leftover, this was no exception. I just added about 1/2 cup of milk to a large pan and added the cold pasta. Then just stir to combine the milk with the pasta and heat evenly throughout.

Taste for salt too before you serve, I didn't need to add any because I used water and chicken bouillon and bouillon is really salty. If you use real chicken broth or stock you might need to check.

I am going to link to "Once Upon a Feast", the have a "Presto Pasta Night"

Send your links, I'll see you there!

Update 2/11 - I had someone tell me they sauteed mushrooms after the sausage and they loved it. 

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Pumpkin Cream Pasta

12 oz. Bow Tie Pasta
1 lb. Italian sausage links, If using links remove casings first

4 - 6 green onions, sliced all the way up the green part
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. canned pumpkin puree
1/4 c. heavy cream, half-an-half, or fat-free evaporated milk
1/2 tsp rubbed sage
dash black pepper
1 Tbsp parsley flakes
1/4 c. Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cook the bow ties in lightly salted water until al dente. Drain and reserve some of the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile saute the Italian sausage until browned. If the skillet looks dry add a splash of olive oil and saute the green onions and garlic until fragrant. Add the chicken broth and use to lift the browned bits from the pan. Add the pumpkin, half-an-half, sage, pepper, and parsley and simmer two minutes.

Stir in cooked pasta and simmer. If desired, thin with reserved cooking liquid. Sprinkle in cheese and stir to combine.

Garnish with more Parmesan cheese to taste.

Make the sauce, add the pasta, check consistency and enjoy!