Mushroom, Turkey and Hot Italian Sausage Lasagna, lactose-free

Lasagna is such a great dish for a dinner party – throw it in the oven before the guests arrive and you’ve got time to do a few last-minute things, and then sit down and relax a little while dinner cooks.

This recipe can be made lactose-free or lactose-full, depending on which way you lean.  For me soy and lactose-free cheese are revolutionary.  For cheesy/dairy people, just substitute with the real thing.  One product I never use is soy cheese; they don’t taste very good, and they stick to your teeth like melted plastic might.  Ick!  Instead I use lactose-free L’Ancetre cheeses, which tastes fabulous!

What you need:

1 recipe homemade pasta OR store-bought lasagna noodles

1 recipe Turkey & Hot Italian Sausage Tomato Sauce

1 recipe mushroom cream sauce

2-3 cups mozzarella cheese

What you do:

You have prepared all of your ingredients, and are now ready to put the lasagna together!  I used a 9×11 deep-dish pan for this recipe.  My homemade noodles were quite thin, so I was able to do 4 layers of pasta; if you are using store-bought noodles you might not be able to fit that many layer into your pan.  If this is the case you could assemble it in two pans, or save the extra sauce for another use.  (You can use the mushrooms to stuff some crepes!  And the tomato sauce could be served over pasta!)

1.  Spread a little tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan, about 1/3 of it.

2.  Lay out the noodles on top of the sauce.  If you are using homemade pasta you don’t need to cook it first.

3.  Now add a layer of the mushroom sauce, about half of it, then put some more noodles on top.  (Or, if you’re really into your cheese, you can add some extra mozzarella on top of the mushroom sauce.)

4.  Add another third of the tomato sauce, then more noodles.

5.  Now add the remaining mushroom sauce, then another layer of noodles.

6.  Final layer: the last of the tomato sauce.  The mozzarella cheese will go on half way through the baking.

So now you’ve got:

tomato, noodle, mushroom

noodle, tomato, noodle,

mushroom, noodle, tomato

7.  Cover the lasagna with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

8.  Remove the foil and sprinkle on the cheese.  Bake for another 30 minutes, then check to see if it has browned.  If not, then pop on the broiler for a minute, watching carefully so it doesn’t burn, until it’s browning and bubbly.

9.  Remove the lasagna from the oven and let it rest for about 20 minutes before cutting.  Letting it rest helps the pieces will stay together when you serve them.