Best Lasagna of my life (thus far...)

This is probably better suited for a blog about Olive Garden (another Darden Restaurants owned chain).

I made some lasagna the other day from a recipe I got at epicurious.com. Epicurious is my favorite source of recipes on the internet. I kinda followed the recipe, but also added my own flair to it for my own tastes. You can see my changes and notes in RED below.

We paired this with a 2004 Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc before the meal and a 2003 Da Vinci Chianti (DOCG approved) during the meal. For more on the Blanc click here. I really like the Blanc (and Mondavi is by far one of my favorite wine makers), though the pear flavor is pretty strong in this showing. The Da Vinci was new to me, and performed brilliantly. The flavor pair was amazing. I will likely buy a couple more of these Da Vinci Chianti's to just keep on hand for future use. The Chianti was an A and the Blanc a B on my grading chart. Our guests both liked both wines as well. Both wines also fall into a very nice price range.

THREE-CHEESE LASAGNA WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE

SAUCE
1 tablespoon olive oil (I added a 2nd tablespoon, seemed a bit dry)
1 cup chopped onion (I used 1/2 cup not liking onion that much. I also food processed it)
3/4 cup finely chopped peeled carrots (food processed it)
2 tablespoons minced garlic (used 3 large cloves and it wasn't enough)
8 ounces lean ground beef (used 12oz. of Mild Italian, 6oz. of Spicy Italian Sausage. I would use all Spicy next time)
6 ounces spicy Italian sausages, casings removed (see above)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree (used organic as they don't have such a strong canned taste)
1/4 cup tomato paste (I went over this amount to pump up the tomato flavor. Probably 3/8 cup)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (I used more than 1/4 cup, and it still could've taken more)
1 tablespoon golden brown sugar (bumped up to 2+ tablespoons)
1 tablespoon dried oregano (definately could have used more of this)
1 bay leaf (I used 2 large ones, but probably could've used a bit more)
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (I felt it needed a bit more heat after eating it last night, so add more to your own tastes)

LASAGNA
15 lasagna noodles -about 12 ounces

2 15-ounce containers part-skim ricotta cheese (I used whole mike ricotta)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese -about 3 ounces (I doubled this)
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained,
squeezed dry (I hate spinach so I skipped this)
2 large eggs

4 3/4 cups grated mozzarella cheese -about 1 1/4 pounds

FOR SAUCE: Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and garlic; sauté until softened, about 12 minutes. Add beef and sausages to pan; sauté until cooked through, breaking up meat with back of spoon, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer until flavors blend and sauce measures about 5 cups, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Cool.

FOR LASAGNA: Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Drain; cover with cold water.

Combine ricotta and 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese in medium bowl. Mix in spinach. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in eggs. Drain pasta and pat dry. Spread 1/2 cup sauce over bottom of 13x9-inch glass baking dish. Place 5 noodles over sauce, overlapping to fit. Spread half of ricotta-spinach mixture evenly over noodles. Sprinkle 2 cups mozzarella cheese evenly over ricotta-spinach mixture. Spoon 1 1/2 cups sauce over cheese, spreading with spatula to cover (sauce will be thick). Repeat layering with 5 noodles, remaining ricotta-spinach mixture, 2 cups mozzarella and 1 1/2 cups sauce. Arrange remaining 5 noodles over sauce. Spread remaining sauce over noodles. Sprinkle remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese evenly over lasagna. Can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake lasagna 40 minutes; uncover and bake until hot and bubbly, about 40 minutes. Let lasagna stand 15 minutes before serving. (The last 40 minutes I set the oven at 400F instead of the suggested 350F. Because I made extra sauce through adding more ingredients, I added that to the bottom and top layers of sauce.)
Serves 8.

Other notes - I used extra meat and some extra parmesan cheese and this barely stayed in the dish when cooking. The original recipe is probably the perfect amount for a 13X9 glass dish.


Related Tags: Lasagna, Lasagna recipe, Olive Garden, Olive Garden Lasagna, Darden, Darden Restaurants, DRI, Italian Sausage, Pasta, Italian food, Italian Restaurant, Mondavi, Robert Mondavi, Mondavi Vineyards, Wine, Wine pairing, Wine Lasagna, White Wine, Red Wine, Sauvignon Blanc, Chianti, Da Vinci, Da Vinci Chianti, Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc, 2003 Chianti, 2004 Sauvignon Blanc