The ideal meal for the cold is this lasagna casserole! In my home, it vanishes in an instant. If you prefer it spicier, use extra red pepper and be sure to use whole-milk ricotta.
| Prep Time: | 35 mins |
| Cook Time: | 50 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 1 (12 ounce) box jumbo pasta shells
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 pound ground sirloin
- 1 pound Italian sausage, hot or sweet
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 (26 ounce) jar prepared marinara sauce
- 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 (15 ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano plus additional for serving
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Set a rack in the center of the oven, about 10 inches from the heat source.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add shells and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Drain pasta in a colander. Return to pot and toss with 1 tablespoon oil.
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- Meanwhile, heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sirloin and sausage and cook, undisturbed, until bottom side is lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Stir, and continue to cook, stirring and breaking up meat into smaller pieces with a wooden spoon, until cooked through, about 4 minutes.
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- Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and garlic, and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes.
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- Stir in marinara sauce, basil, and crushed red pepper. Remove ragu from heat.
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- Stir together ricotta, Parmigiano-Reggiano, cream, and salt in a bowl.
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- To assemble, spread about 2 cups of the ragu in the bottom of a 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Spoon 1/2 of the pasta over sauce. Dollop half of the ricotta mixture over pasta, and sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Spoon remaining pasta over mozzarella cheese. Spread remaining ragu over pasta mixture, and dollop with remaining ricotta mixture. Top with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover lasagna with a large sheet of aluminum foil that’s been lightly sprayed with cooking spray (to prevent the cheese from sticking to it).
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- Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and remove foil. Increase oven temperature to broil with rack about 10 inches from heat source; preheat 5 minutes. Return baking dish to oven. Broil until cheese is browned in spots, 5 to 8 minutes.
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Reviews
Perfect recipe! The whole family loved it. I’ll definitely be making this again! The only modifications I made were leaving onion and red chili out(my kids are picky). I also accidentally added about twice the amount of cream, but didn’t matter it wasn’t watery at all. I made the pasta sauce with tomato puree, chopped garlic, fresh chopped basil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. I also skipped the broil but added a few minutes of cooking time until cheese started to brown.
This was an excellent and tasty way to make a quick lasagna. I made it even more simple and skipped the layering process and instead opted to mix everything in one bowl before pouring it all into a casserole dish. You get the same outcome as taking time to layer. I split it into two smaller portions to bake one now and one for later. I also skipped broiling the top. It’s not really necessary. This recipe is a keeper and you can use any kind of pasta.
Absolutely delicious!!!