To-Die-For Three Sauces Lasagna

While most of the recipes featured on this blog are chosen for their quick-and-easy qualities, this lasagna will prove to be worth your time and effort despite its lengthy process. It’s the perfect recipe for entertaining as it allows you to carry out your host/hostess duties without the stress of timing, and is sure to satisfy even the foodies on your guest list.

INGREDIENTS

• 300g package of frozen chopped spinach
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 1 small pack of dried mushrooms
• 500g of spicy sausages (uncooked)
• 1/2 cup of sherry
• 1 jar of pasta sauce (I use tomato and basil)
• 1 tsp each of dried oregano and basil
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 packages of fresh sliced mushrooms
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 1/2 cups of milk
• 1 big pinch of nutmeg
• 250g of grated mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup of fresh parmesan cheese
• 1 box of oven-ready lasagna noodles

METHOD

Step 1:

Take the spinach out and leave to thaw at room temperature.  Heat wine in microwave until hot (approximately 30 seconds).  Add the dried mushrooms.  Cover and let soak.

Step 2: Meat Sauce

Slice the sausage links open to remove the meat from the casings.  Put into a pan of warmed oil.  Cook until browned.  Add sherry.  Turn up the heat to boil off the sherry (approximately 5 minutes).  Then turn down the heat once sherry has evaporated. Add the jar of pasta sauce, the oregano and the basil.  Stir until it begins to boil and then turn off the heat.

Step 3: Mushroom Sauce

Melt butter in a big pan (approx 1 tbsp).  Add chopped onions and cook until soft. Add another tbsp of butter and all of the fresh mushrooms.  Shake some salt onto them and stir periodically until the mushrooms soften.  Add the wine/dried mushrooms mixture.  Cook until the wine has evaporated and then turn off the heat.

Step 4: Basic Cream Sauce

Melt a little more than 1/4 cup of butter in another pan and add the flour.  Use a whisk for this sauce.  Wait for the butter and flour to start bubbling and then add the milk slowly.  Keep whisking!  When it starts to boil, turn down the heat and whisk until it’s thick.  Mix in the nutmeg.  Now add half of this cream sauce to the mushroom sauce.

Step 5: Putting it all together

Mix the two cheeses together.  Spread some of the meat sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.  Spread one layer of noodles over the sauce.  Now spread half of the mushroom sauce and half of the meat sauce on top of the noodles.  Sprinkle with half of the cheese mixture.  Top with another layer of noodles, then the rest of the mushroom sauce.

Take the spinach and crumble it on next.  Add the rest of the cheese and another layer of noodles before adding the rest of the meat sauce.  Now, use the rest of your cream sauce as the final layer instead of cheese.  It will not cover the entire lasagna but drop it in dollops to make it look pretty.

Finally, bake covered in aluminium foil at 350oF for 1 hour.  Then another 15 minutes or so uncovered.

Voila!