White Lasagna with Sausage and Vegetables

Admittedly this Lasagna dish is a bit time consuming but well worth the effort it will take you.  You can change out the Sausage for Ground Beef, Turkey Sausage, etc., or don't add any meat at all.

What you will need:
Large Square Pan 9x16  *None reactive metal.  Glass is also good.*
Large Sauce Pan
Frying Pan *I use a heavy Cast Iron Skillet*
Large 5-Quart Pot
Baking Sheet lined with Parchment Paper or Aluminum Foil, optional
Whisk or wooden spoon
2-clean tasting spoons (Regular teaspoons)
Colander
Pot holders or Oven Mitts

Preheat your oven to 350-Degrees Fahrenheit

Ingredients for the White Cheese Sauce:
4-Tbls Butter
7-Tbls All Purpose Flour
7-Cups of Whole Milk
1 1/4 Cups Grated Parmesan Cheese
1-Tsp Ground Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to taste


Ingredients for the Meat Mixture:
1-Pound Sweet or Spicy Sausage ground
8-Brown and Serve Links Sliced
9-Large Snow White Mushrooms sliced
Salt and Pepper to taste
1-Tablespoons Dried Basil
1-Tablespoons Granulated Garlic
1-Large Yellow Onion peeled


Ingredients for the Cheese Filling:
32-Oz Ricotta Cheese *Whole Milk*
2-Large Eggs
1-Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Vegetables:
16-Ounces Yellow Squash Frozen
16-Ounces Zucchini Frozen


Ingredients for layering:
1 32-Ounce bag of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese or *Grate your own*
2-Tbls Dried Parsley for sprinkling over finished Lasagna
1 16-Ounce Package of Lasagna Pasta Noodles


Lasagna Noodles:
Fill your Large Pot 3/4 of the way up with water, add 3-Tbls salt.  You want enough salt in the water to season your Lasagna Noodles. This is the only chance you get to season them. Bring the pot of water to a rolling boil, add in the whole package of Lasagna Noodles.  Stir the noodles the first minute or two of cooking, this will help prevent them from sticking to one another.  Boil Lasagna uncovered for about 8-9 minutes. Place a colander in your kitchen sink.  Remove the pot off of the burner with either your pot holders or oven mitts, be extremely careful this is very hot!  Drain the pasta and water in to the colander. Shake a few times to remove excess water.  Set colander aside. *Reuse this pot for your vegetables.*

White Cheese Sauce:
Using your large sauce pan put in the butter.  Set your burner on medium low heat.  Melt the butter, when fully melted add in the flour, stir with either your whisk or wooden spoon. Mix well for about 2-3 minutes this is a Rue. Add your milk to this mixture and bring it to a boil, continue stirring this mixture which is a Bachamel Sauce. Once the mixture boils, reduce your burner temperature to low and continue to stir the Bachamel Sauce.  Do this for about a minute or two.  Now remove the large sauce pan off of the burner.  Add in the Grated Parmesan Cheese, stir well making sure it is thoroughly blended. Add in your salt and pepper. Using a clean tasting spoon to see if the mixture needs more salt and pepper or not.  Set aside.

Meat Mixture:
Set your largest burner on medium high heat.  Place your large skillet or frying pan on top of the burner.  Add in the sausages and cook until slightly browned, 4-5 minutes.  Add all of the ingredients for the meat mixture.  Stir well so all ingredients are blended.  Cook until mushrooms are a light golden brown and the onions are a light translucent brown.  Take off of the heat and set aside.

Vegetables:
Fill the pot that you  used to cook the lasagna noodles 3/4 of the way up with water. Salt the water, this time only using 1-tsp of salt. Add both bags of the vegetables and bring to a rolling boil for about 5-6 minutes or until vegetables are fork tender.  Drain Vegetables and set aside.

Cheese Filling:
In a medium sized mixing bowl or use your stand mixer, add in the Ricotta Cheese, 2-large eggs and Grated Parmesan cheese.  Mix well until smooth, set aside.

Layering the Lasagna in your square pan:
Spread a thin layer of the White Cheese Sauce on the bottom of the pan, make sure it's completely coated.  Lay down 4-Lasagna noodle strips side by side across the pan, you may have to lay one down crosswise at each end making sure the pan is covered with the lasagna noodles. Now add about a cup or so of the Cheese Filling on top of the Lasagna noodles, spread this out covering all of the lasagna.

Now put down a layer of the vegetables, I alternate yellow and green.

Now add the Meat Mixture on top of the vegetables. Cover evenly.

Sprinkle Mozzarella Cheese evenly over top of the Meat Mixture.

Repeat the layering process.  White Cheese Sauce, Lasagna Noodles, Cheese Filling, Vegetables, Meat Mixture, Mozzarella Cheese. Sprinkle Dried Parsley on top.  Once all of the ingredients are used up, place the square pan on a parchment or aluminum foil lined baking sheet. This helps for easy clean up if the lasagna should happen to boil over, it won't make a mess of your oven.  Now put the lasagna pan and baking sheet in to the oven, this is heavy so be careful.

Bake for 30-minutes uncovered and 30-minutes covered with aluminum foil.   Cheese should be browned when finished.  Take Lasagna out of the oven and set on top of your stove. Let the lasagna sit for about 15-minutes to set up.  Cut in to squares and serve.   Enjoy!

Serving suggestion:
Mixed Greens Salad, recipe is here on my blog.  Garlic Butter Dinner Rolls.