Lasagna – a layered pasta, cheese, sauce and meat dish – it’s the perfect large crowd meal for a dinner. It’s the perfect holiday dish. It’s perfect with veggies, more pasta, no pasta, with more cheese, less cheese, beef, turkey no meat…. the possibilities to create your own original lasagna dish are endless (just take a peak here at how I’ve made them over the years).
So this is one of my latest versions – it goes against convention and doesn’t use mozzarella cheese and has much less Parmesan cheese than a traditional lasagna. The ricotta is still there though, so don’t fret. Trevor isn’t always the biggest fan of lots of cheese (nuts, I know!), so I try to limit how much I use in dishes when I can.
I have to say though, I really didn’t miss it! I thought I would, but it tasted amazing! There’s nothing wrong with a little change to tradition and making a dish a little healthier as long as it doesn’t change the taste, right?!
I know you’ll just love this one. Let me know what you think in the comments below!
The New Turkey Lasagna (with no Mozzarella Cheese)
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 jar marinara sauce (or homemade pasta sauce)
- 1 (15 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 15 no-bake oven-ready lasagna noodles
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet over a medium-high heat. Add the oil – once warm, add the garlic and onion and cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add ground turkey and cook until no longer pink, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in 3/4 of a jar tomato sauce and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine the ricotta cheese, egg, salt and pepper (if you have any fresh herbs to use up, throw them in here too!). Set aside.
- Spread remaining 1/4 tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Place a layer of 3 lasagna noodles on top, touching but not overlapping. Spread half of the ricotta mixture on top of the noodles. Add another layer of 3 noodles. Top with half the turkey mixture. Repeat with another layer of 3 noodles, then remaining cheese mixture, 3 more noodles, then remaining turkey mixture and finally 1 more layer of 3 noodles. Top the final layer of noodles with the remaining sauce, then sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
- Cover loosely with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes more. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before cutting into. Enjoy!
Season Generously 