Colon Clogging Mansagna

Greetings from blogoland.  Verno back with another installment.

What guy doesn't love these two things:  Meat & Pasta?  Well, this week's entry is a homage to these two manly culinary delights.  This belly-bustin', artery-slappin' and colon-cloggin' bastard weighs in with:

• Almost 3 pounds of pig and cow flesh
• A whopping 2+ pounds of cheesey goodness

I have made this recipe several times, and it NEVER fails to impress.  Trust me on this one folks.  Here is what we need to create this Pasta Picasso:

1 1/2 pounds ( 0.7 kg) ground beef (lean or regular...your choice)
1 pound (0.5 kg) ground Italian sausage *
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp ground oregano
1 tsp basil (fresh is best, but dried is ok)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 14.5 ounce (430 ml) can of diced tomatoes **
2 15 ounce (445 ml) cans of tomato sauce
1 6 ounce (177 ml) can of tomato paste
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 5 ounce (150 ml) hunk of fresh parmesan or parmesan-reggianno cheese
2 Tbs Italian parsley
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
9 oven-ready lasagna noodles (these are freakin' great)
2 8 ounce (237 ml) packages of shredded mozzarella

Fine Print:

* Buy Italian sausage links, and take off the casing then break the sausage up into little chunks.  Now I CAN'T stress this enough...the key to this recipe is the sausage.  Use HOT Italian sausage.  I usually buy the Johnsonville Hot Italian Sausage links.  If HOT Italian sausage is "too hot" for you, then grow some 'nads, f*ck off and never read my blog again.

** Get the can of tomatoes that are already spiced.  I've seen cans with "Basil, Garlic and Oregano": flavoring.  I've also seen the no-name ones with "Herbs and Spices".  These work great.


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large sauce pan, combine ground beef, sausage, onion and garlic.  Cook over medium heat until meat is browned and crumbled.  Drain.

Return meat to pan and add oregano, basil, salt and pepper.  Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste.  Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes.

In a large bowl combine the cottage cheese, parmesan, parsley and eggs.

Spoon 1/4 of the sauce onto the bottom of a 13" X 9" baking pan.  Place 3 uncooked lasagna noodles on top of the sauce.  Do not overlap the noodles.  Spread 1/3 of the cottage mixture over the noodles and top with 1/4 sauce and 1/3 mozzarella.  Repeat layers, ending with sauce, reserving 1/3 of the mozzarella.

Bake for 45 minutes. Top with the remaining cheese and bake for 15 minutes more or until hot and bubbly.  Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Serve up this mofo with a Caesar salad (done properly with anchovy paste) and some nice cheesy garlic bread (like there isn't enough cheese in the mansagna already).

Sens Talk:

So Filip Kuba is out with a broken right leg.  Didn't we start the year last year without one of our top d-men too?

Highly touted defenceman Jared Cowan gets sent back to the juniors.  I think this is a good move.  He will get close to 30 minutes a game with Spokane in the WHL, and that can only be a good thing.  Lets see how David Hale responds.  If this guy wanted something to spark his career, well here it is.  Looking forward to see how he plays.

Obviously the biggest question mark is betwen the pipes.  Can Pascal Leclaire regain his form from 2007-08 when he was with the Blue Jackets?  Can Brian Elliot come in a little more consistent than last year?  Stay tuned folks.  Who knows, maybe we will get to see that Lehner phenom this year (I thought he had a great camp).

The next three Sens games (F*ck the Laffs)

DATE               VISITOR      HOME          TIME (ET)
Fri, 8 Oct 2010    SABRES       SENATORS      7:30 pm
Sat, 9 Oct 2010    SENATORS     LAFFS         7:00 pm
Mon, 11 Oct 2010   SENATORS     CAPITALS      7:00 pm

L8er
Verno