World's Best Lasagna

I almost had a nervous breakdown this weekend with the lasagna. I simmered the sauce for 1.5 hours (recommended on Allrecipes) and ended up with an inch of burnt crap at the bottom despite occasional stirring. The sauce had a bitter hint from the burning and I was thoroughly anxious that I had ruined everything and it would just turned out to be a charred mess post-baking. And this would be the main dish to keep people full. I vowed I would never entertain again. AHHHH!

Amazingly, the dish turned out perfectly with no burnt taste. In fact, I couldn't think of a single thing to improve upon it - it was THAT good. And that is why, contrary to tradition, it deserves its own blog entry. Here's the recipe with my modifications:


Ingredients

• 1.25 pounds ground turkey meat
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 13 oz Newman's Own Italian Sausage & Peppers sauce (1/2 jar)
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves or 4 tsp fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (dill seed can be used as sub)
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (equal parts basil, marjoram, thyme, oregano, rosemary)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 9 lasagna noodles
• 15-16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 8-12 oz mozzarella cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Cook ground turkey, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato sauce. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 15-30 mins, stirring occasionally (can cook longer with Magic Pot).
   
2. In the meantime, soak lasagna noodles in very hot tap water for 20-30 mins. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and ground nutmeg.
3. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 3 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers (noodles - ricotta - mozzarella - sauce - parmesan - noodles - sauce), 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.
4. Let flavors seep overnight in fridge.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 350-375 degrees for 25 minutes (or if coming straight from fridge, maybe preheat dish and oven together to allow more gradual temp change of dish). Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.