Beef Sausage Lasagna

Method: Assembly, Baking, Cook

Ingredients

For the Beef Sauce

  • Ground beef (85/15) fresh or frozen. (no more than 15% fat)-9 pounds
  • Italian seasoning-½ cup
  • Garlic powder-1 tablespoon
  • Onion powder-1 tablespoon
  • Red pepper flakes, crushed-2 teaspoons
  • Fennel seeds-2 teaspoons
  • Salt-2 teaspoons
  • Marinara or spaghetti sauce, no salt added-8 pounds
  • Tomatoes, diced, canned, low sodium-6 pounds

For the Lasagna Layers

  • Ricotta cheese, part skim-4 pounds
  • Eggs, whole-8 each
  • Spinach, chopped, frozen thawed-2 pounds
  • Noodles, lasagna, oven ready-4 pounds
  • Mozzarella cheese, shredded-4 pounds

Instructions

Beef Sauce

  1. Combine beef, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, fennel seeds and salt in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.
  2. In a large pan or tilt skillet over high heat, brown beef quickly, breaking into ½” chunks and stirring until internal temperature reaches 155 ℉.
  3. Add marinara sauce and tomatoes. Simmer 20 minutes.

Assembly

  1. Squeeze thawed spinach to remove most of liquid. Combine with ricotta and eggs in a large bowl, mixing to break up eggs and spinach until evenly distributed.
  2. Using non-stick cooking spray, grease two (4-inch tall) steam table pans.
  3. Spread 4 cups of beef/tomato mixture in each pan. Cover with 8 oz. of lasagna noodles in a single layer, or overlapping slightly, in each pan. Top the noodles with 6 cups of tomato/meat mixture in each pan. Then layer ½ of the ricotta mixture dividing between the two pans. Sprinkle 4 cups mozzarella cheese evenly over the ricotta dividing between the two pans. Repeat with noodles, meat, ricotta and mozzarella. Cover with the remaining noodles and all the remaining beef/tomato mixture. Reserve the remaining mozzarella cheese.
  4. Cover each pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 ℉ for 60 minutes, until noodles are tender and interior of lasagna has reached 165 ℉.
  5. Remove the foil. Top each lasagna with the remaining mozzarella. Bake 10 more minutes until cheese is melted and begins to brown. Remove from oven and hold 15 minutes.
  6. Cut each pan into pieces 5 x 5. Serve 1 piece

Recipe Notes

Crediting: 4 ounces M/MA, 1 ounce grain, 1/2 cup red/orange vegetable

A serving of this recipe provides an excellent source of protein, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B12, iron, zinc, selenium and phosphorus as well as a good source of dietary fiber, potassium, vitamin B6 and choline.

Substitute:

  • Use 1 pounds 13 ounces of pre-cooked ground beef (85/15) (no more than 15% fat) instead of fresh ground beef.
  • Skip Step 2. In Step 3 combine pre-cooked beef with marinara sauce and tomatoes.
  • Simmer 20 minutes and ensure that mixture reaches an internal temperature of 165˚. Proceed as directed.

Yield: 2 steam table pans.