Sausage-Pepperoni Lasagna
"If you're counting calories and/or cholesterol, you'll want to skip this one. On the other hand, if you want your kids to kiss your feet and promise to do their homework, you might try it. :) My children are grown now, but they (and their friends) still beg for it. The original recipe, which I've modified slightly, was printed in Southern Living many years ago. Don't let the fractions throw you. Just 'guesstimate', saving enough for the top layer that it doesn't dry out. Serve with a salad and garlic bread and eat 'til you pop!"
- Ready In:
- 1hr 5mins
- Ingredients:
- 12
- Serves:
-
8-10
ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package bulk pork sausage, hot or mild (we much prefer 'hot')
- 1 cups homemade spaghetti sauce or (30 ounce) jar commercial pasta sauce
- 1 (8 ounce) package lasagna noodles
- 1 large egg
- 1 (15 ounce) carton ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (can substitute 1 Tablespoon dried)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1⁄4 cup freshly-grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon margarine
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (or more!)
- 1 (3 1/2 ounce) package sliced pepperoni
directions
- Brown sausage thoroughly in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring to crumble; drain well.
- Return sausage to skillet and add spaghetti sauce, stirring well to mix.
- Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions, except omit salt if called for.
- While pasta cooks, break egg into mixing bowl and beat lightly.
- Add ricotta, parsley, oregano, pepper and grated Parmesan to beaten egg, stirring well to mix.
- When lasagna is done, pour into a colander and run cold running water over the noodles.
- (Be sure not to skip this step. They stick together something awful and will be impossible to layer if you don't rinse away all the starch.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Lightly grease a 9" x 13" baking dish on bottom and sides with margarine.
- Spoon a small amount of meat sauce into dish, spreading to coat lightly.
- (Use 1/2 cup or less-- just enough to prevent the bottom layer of noodles from sticking. It should be more like a'film' than a layer.) Place half the noodles in bottom of dish, overlapping slightly if necessary.
- Spoon half the ricotta mixture on top, using a rubber spatula to spread evenly over all.
- Sprinkle with 1/3 of mozzarella.
- Spoon on 1/3 the remaining meat sauce.
- Repeat layers.
- Cover top of dish with pepperoni slices.
- Pour remaining meat sauce over all, spreading evenly.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining mozzarella on top.
- Bake an additional 5 minutes, or until cheese has melted.
- Let stand 10 minutes before cutting into squares and serving.
- (It won't affect the taste if you don't let it'rest', but it will be terribly runny instead of cutting nicely.).
Questions & Replies
Got a question?
Share it with the community!
Reviews
-
Loved this. I used the mild sausage and it was plenty spicy. Also added a 16oz. can diced tomatoes to the sauce because I only had a 23oz. jar spaghetti sauce. I would definetely make this again! -
Loved this. Didn't have any pepperoni but it was great with just the sausage. -
I made this for a birthday dinner. It turned out great! Easy to make for a beginning cook like me and full of flavor. I added more pepperoni on top of the other layers as well--just because we love the taste of pepperoni. Also, I added a little extra sauce and cheese. It turned out just perfect and made me look like a great cook, thanks! -
This recipe is similar to what I already make, but the addition of pepperoni was a helpful and tasty idea. Highcotton's directions and sidenotes are very explicit and thorough--thanks. -
Absolutely delicious! I was looking for a really good lasagna recipe and this is it. The only thing I will do different next time is add a pound of hamburger, just to have a little more meat. I couldn't get the sausage to break up as small and I wanted, so the hamburger will act more as a filler instead of for the flavor. The flavor it has is already great. I think I'll also add maybe half of another jar of sauce, because of the addition of hamburger. Don't want it to be too dry. This is going to be my main lasagna recipe from now on! Thanks so much for sharing!
see 2 more reviews
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Forgive me, but I must go on a rant here. You see, what I love is cooking. What I HATE is unfair reviews!
* If you despise one of the major ingredients, why in the devil would you prepare it?
* If you haven't made it/tasted it, what on earth would make you think your input is valuable?
* If your grocery doesn't have something or it's not in your pantry, how assinine is it for you to say, "I deducted a star because I couldn't find/didn't have (fill in the blank)"?
* If you have young children and the recipe includes hot seasonings, how stupid is it for you to say "It was so spicy my kids couldn't eat it"???
* If your review reads something like "My whole family went berserk they loved this so much and they've demanded that I serve it at least once a month!", how can you possibly feel comfortable that you gave the recipe 4 stars?
* If your every instinct tells you there's too much salt, too much garlic, too much hot sauce, too much whatever for your family's taste, why don't you just use your common sense and cut back instead of telling us it was too salty, too garlicky, too spicy, too whatever?
* If you're a food snob, how fair is it for you to rate a recipe that calls for 'cream of --' soup or garlic powder or margarine or dried parsley flakes and say it didn't come up to expectations?
* If you regularly use 'cream of --' soup and have never bought a head of garlic or a fresh bunch of Italian parsley in your life, how fair is it for you to substitute commercial products for fresh and say you were disappointed in the results?
* If you limit/eliminate your intake of certain food products, whether for physical or philosophical reasons, what makes you think you have the right to try to impose your restrictions on the rest of us?
* If you've never shared a recipe, why should your opinion of ours matter?
* If you're from Texas and automatically give 1* reviews for chili recipes that include beans, may I suggest you get over yourself?
* Last, but most assuredly not least, if the
'zaar program that does the calorie counting screws up, does it really make you feel good to slam the recipe poster?
Just askin'...
So, what do I think constitutes a fair review? Here's my take on the issue...
1) I try to judge a recipe 'in context'. If it requires a special trip to a gourmet food market... and if the ingredients cost a bundle... and if I have to spend a lot of time and effort preparing it... well, yeah, I hold it to a higher standard. In that case, it needs to be perfection itself to rate 5*. On the other hand, if a dish is quick and easy and fairly inexpensive, and everybody goes back for seconds and tells me how much they enjoyed their dinner -- well, I have no problem giving that recipe an excellent rating as well. Comparing dinner party possibilities with weeknight family meals is a silly apples/oranges thing. There are 5* dishes in *both* categories!
2) Some seasonings are super-personal. Salt, garlic and spicy things are probably the source of more negative comments on this site than anything else. Tone it down -- or ramp it up -- based on your intimate knowledge of your family's tastes. If any of the above are slightly too much/too little for us, I do not deduct a star. After all, the poster wasn't at fault -- my judgment was. (I do make an exception if the given amount of an ingredient is way over the top and really ruins it...)
3) I am willing to admit that I might be at fault. If a recipe has 8 great reviews but it was a flop for me, should I rush to submit a poor rating -- or should I maybe consider that it was slightly above my skill level? Or that maybe I misread the directions? Or maybe mismeasured the ingredients? If my results were totally at odds with several other reviewers', I make the dish a second time to be sure.
4) Hurt feelings are not good. Most of my reviews are extremely positive. If you think I go overboard with 4* and 5* reviews, let me assure you that I have tried many, many more recipes on this site than those for which I have submitted a critique. If it's just goshawful, yes, I'll say so. If a recipe was submitted by one of the superstar chefs around here and I find it to be seriously lacking, I don't hesitate to post negative comments. But to say hateful things about a recipe that some newbie just posted? Oh, that is sooo lame!!
5) The "authenticity" thing leaves me cold. Who cares if your Polish (or Ukranian or Italian or German) grandmother wouldn't have been caught dead using a certain ingredient in an ethnic dish? Hey, maybe her grandmother came from a different part of Poland (or the Ukraine or Italy or Germany) where using it was common. Imho, the only criterion on which it should be judged is taste.
6) And then there's the matter of substitutions. Hmmm... Debatable. For the most part, I think that if the substitution (or elimination) of an ingredient works, then it's fine to post stars. Just indicates that the recipe is adaptable to personal tastes/needs. But if the result is negative, I think it's only fair to post a 'comment', without stars.
