Flood Zone Lasagna

Flood Zone Lasagna 

Camper's battle with my housemates is settling down. All last week, when they went to turn on a light, they accidentally turned on one of the ceiling fans. Of course this makes Camper furious and he barks at the spinning fan and then runs, barking, to check all the fans in the other rooms. It has gotten to the point that whenever one of my housemates goes down the hall, Camper follows them, all primed and ready to blow a gasket.

I think they turn the fans on just to annoy me.

Every day it seems, my housemates discover a new rule that they didn’t know Camper enforces. Over dinner, the relate to me all the rules they broke during the day. Through all of this, Camper is going from table table while Squeeky is behaving like a saint. One day last week, we dined on lasagna while discussing the restrictions camper was placing on them.

Sauce

4 tbs. olive oil

4 cloves of garlic

1 tsp. thyme

1 tbs. oregano

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. white pepper

2 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes

2 tbs. grated parmesan cheese

Lasagna

1 box of lasagna noodles

1 lb. Italian sausage

1 clove of garlic, smashed and minced

Olive oil

1/2 lb. sliced Colby Jack cheese

1/2 lb. shredded Cheddar cheese

1/2 lb. shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/2 lb. sliced provolone

15 oz. whole milk ricotta cheese

2 cups grated parmesan cheese

1 cup red wine

Preparation

Place the crushed tomatoes in a large bowl. Smash and finely mince the garlic and add that to the tomatoes. Add the thyme, oregano and basil along with the white pepper. 

In a cast iron skillet, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Add the Italian sausage and break it up. Add the garlic and cook, stirring until the sausage looses its pink color.

Grab one of those big aluminum disposable lasagna pans and place it on a large baking sheet. Once it is assembled, the lasagna will be far too heavy for the disposable pan to lift without a baking sheet. Ladle on a thin layer of the sauce. 

(The following is just a guide. Fit as many layers of pasta and cheese as the pan will hold.) You can add the lasagna noodles without cooking them. Add a layer of the noodles to the sauce. Now add the Italian sausage evenly over the pasta. Cover the sausage with the parmesan and the provolone cheese. Add another layer of sauce and then a layer of noodles. Add the ricotta cheese and some more sauce. Add another layer of pasta, more sauce and the Cheddar. Add another layer of pasta, more sauce and the Colby Jack cheese and then sprinkle on the Mozzarella cheese. Pour the glass of wine on the lasagna and shake it a little to let the wine settle in.

Bake the lasagna with the pan on the cookie sheet at 350˚ for about a forty five minutes. The cheese should be golden and the sauce should be bubbling. Let it sit for fifteen minutes before slicing. While it is resting, pick out a bottle of Chianti Classico to drink with your lasagna. 

Serving

Serve a giant wedge of the lasagna next to a large slice of spinach pie. Now add a big crisp salad and some homemade bread. If I’d were you, I’d open a couple of bottles of Chianti Classico just to be safe.