It's A Wonderful Night For Oscar!

Here's a little bit about me. In my family, Oscar night was a big freakin' deal! I grew up in Los Angeles and both of my parents worked in the entertainment industry for many years. So any award show, but particularly the Oscars, was a night to celebrate big time. I know that most people watch the Oscars and enjoy it and have parties, so I'm not claiming I'm special. I'm just sayin'... it was a big night for us.

Every year on Oscar night, we would wear cocktail attire, order Italian take out and tune in for the big night. So this year for Oscar night, I thought I'd try an Italian favorite that I've never made before today. Lasagna!

This dish has another bit of nostalgia attached to it because my father, who passed away nearly three years ago, used to make it for our family on Sunday nights. So tonight's culinary endeavor was extra meaningful, and I believe I did it justice.

Here is the recipe I used from Barilla, but I made my own tomato sauce and added Fontina cheese and chiffonade of basil to the ricotta cheese mixture. I also used a blend of Sweet Italian and Hot Sausage for the meat.

beginning the layering process

Ingredients:
1 box of barilla no-boil lasagna noodles
2 eggs whipped
1 15 oz container of ricotta cheese
1 lb. of buffalo mozarella cheese
1/2 cup of fontina cheese grated or shredded
1 lb sausage browned
tomato sauce
basil
salt and pepper

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 375*.

she's ready to hit the oven!

In a bowl combine ricotta cheese, eggs whipped, fontina cheese, 8 oz of mozerella cubed and chiffonade of basil. Add 1/2 tsp of ground pepper and 1/2 tsp salt. 
Take your pyrex dish and line the bottom of it with 1 cup of sauce. Then place down four of the lasagna noodles. On top of that spoon or pipe the ricotta mixture (about 1/3) smoothly over the noodles. It doesn't need to be perfect. Then spoon a layer sauce and meat on top of that. Layer again four noodles, ricotta mixture, then sauce and meat. Do this three times and then put a final layer of noodles on top which you will cover with the sliced mozarella cheese. Bake at 375 for 50-60 mins or until the cheese on top is bubbly and golden brown. 

gorgeous!