BACKGROUND
My nutrition friend, Anna, and I made this low-fat lasagna for our nutrition food science class. Our challenge was to modify a regular lasagna recipe to a low-fat version. We then had to present a final dish to a panel of judges for a little taste test. It was nerve-wracking, but we did pretty well!
I do have to be honest… This dish is labor intensive and take a whole heap of patience. It takes forever to make, but it’s definitely worth it. Maybe if you have a free Sunday afternoon?
It would make for a great reheat dish if you have a busy week ahead of you since it does feed about 6-8 people. My household consists of two people and two cats, so I’d be more motivated to make it for a special occasion, such as having house guests or family over for dinner.
Number of Servings: 8
Time Period for Quantity: 204 minutes
Prep Time Required: 24 minutes
Final Prep Equipment:
- Range Top Burner
- Convection Oven
Utensils:
- French Knife
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- 8 Medium-Sized Bowls
- 11 Small Saucers
- Large Plate
- Plastic or Wooden Spatula
- Big Spoon
Pots and Pans:
- Sauce Pot with a Lid
- 9 x 13 Inch Baking Dish
Auxiliary Equipment:
- Cutting Board
- Scale
- Set up of the rise en place.
- Browning the meat.
- Adding the tomato sauces.
- Adding the herbs and spices to the sauce.
- Putting together the ricotta mixture.
- Ricotta filling.
- Assembly line.
- Slathering the ricotta layer.
- Adding the parmesan and mozzarella.
- Layers of noodles.
- Preparing to bake.
- Bake with foil and then without.
- Final product.
- Make sure to let it rest before serving.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 lb turkey sausage, lean
- 3.4 lb ground turkey, lean
- 1/2 cup onion, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes, canned
- 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce, canned
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 Tbsp white sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
- ½ tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ Tbsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper, ground
- 4 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 12 lasagna noodles
- 16 oz ricotta cheese, low fat
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp salt (for ricotta mixture)
- ¾ lb mozzarella cheese, low fat, sliced
- ¾ cup parmesan cheese, grated
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- In a large skillet cook and stir turkey sausage, ground turkey, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned.
- Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and parsley. Simmer covered for about 1 1/2 hours while stirring occasionally.
- In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2-teaspoon salt.
- To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9×13-baking dish. Arrange noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella and sprinkle with 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.
- Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Cover with foil. To prevent sticking – either spray foil with cooking spray or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.