Before the holidays, I did a Costco run and got sucked into buying 3 – 45 oz jars of Ragu Old World Pasta Sauce. I can’t remember how much I paid, but I know it was a great deal at the time…So, between roasting chestnuts on an open fire and having Jack Frost nip at my nose, I kept thinking the only way I will use up even one of those 45 oz jars of sauce was to make a lasagna come the new year. The following recipe is adapted from the cookbook Canyon Ranch Nourish. The original recipe uses ground beef, oven ready noodles, fennel seeds, fresh parsley and fresh marinara sauce….I went with ground turkey, jarred pasta sauce, dried spices and skipped the fennel seeds and it was still amazing.
Meat sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil
1 lb of ground turkey
3/4 to 1 cup of chopped onions (I used brown onions)
2-3 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons basil
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons parsley
2 cups pasta sauce (I used Ragu Old World Traditional)
————————–
Cheese mixture
2 cups fat-free ricotta cheese
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
3 cups pasta sauce
12 cooked whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray glass 9×13 pan with Olive Oil spray.
Brown ground turkey in heated 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil. Drain if necessary (the ground turkey really doesn’t generate that much run off…).
Sautee onions and garlic in remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil until onions are translucent. Add turkey and the spices listed under Meat Sauce (basil, oregano and parsley). Add pasta sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 15 minutes (or until sauce thickens).
In clean bowl, combine ricotta, egg yolks, granulated garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper.
Assembly
Spread 1/2 cup pasta sauce on bottom of 9×13 baking dish. Place 3 cooked noodles length-wise on top of sauce. Spread half the ricotta cheese mixture over the noodles. Top with 1 cup meat sauce and 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Repeat layering 2 more times, ending with 3 noodles on top. Cover top noodles with 1/2 cup pasta sauce, 1/3 cup mozzarella and 1/3 cup Parmesan (more or less according to taste).
Cover with foil and bake 45-50 minutes. Remove foil for last 5 minutes, if slight browning desired. Let cool a few minutes before cutting.