Tuscan Lasagna

Here is another recipe from my new cookbook on Pasta - there will be over 100 recipes in the book due out sometime next year - I have several adaptations on this classic dish, Lasagna. There are many different lasagna recipes from all over Italy and even southern France and Spain.

Ingredients

1lb lasagna noodles

1 lb ground beef, 85-percent-lean

2 cups of homemade sauce

2 cups thawed frozen spinach, drained

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup fresh mozzarella, grated, divided

1 cup sliced cremini mushrooms

½ cup Romano cheese

1 medium onion, minced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Vegetable oil cooking spray

Directions

Heat oven to 375°F.

In a large pan over medium heat, cook beef, mushrooms, onion, garlic, parsley, salt, basil, Italian seasoning, fennel seeds, and pepper until meat is browned, 12 minutes; transfer to a bowl and stir in ricotta.

Cook noodles as directed on package; drain and rinse with cold water.

In an 8" x 11" baking dish coated with cooking spray, place a layer of noodles—top with 1/3 of the meat mixture, 1/3 of the marinara, and 1/3 of the mozzarella. Repeat to create two more layers with remaining noodles, meat, marinara, and mozzarella; before the last layer, scatter spinach. Top with Romano cheese.

Cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes; remove foil and bake 20 minutes more, cool 10 minutes before serving.