* Turkey Lasagna(my Italian quest)

          Turkey Lasagna is one of the dishes I love to make and eat. As I love to eat different verity of food, get  bored of monotonous food very  quickly.If I'm asked the best thing of being in Toronto,,then I would say  the FOOD.The  choice of food that I got  here is  just  countless.You see the  entire zona of food horizon....say Italian ,Mexican, Thai, Indian, Japanese,Caribbean,,,,I can just  go on  and on.I have  one rule  eat everything you like  and have  a  regular  work out schedule.It is very important to stay  healthy,so I make  sure I  get  all the nutrients in my food and  never constrain myself of eating  something.One of the things I love to eat  is  cheese.,,Now you know why I love this lasagna,,,,yes,,,it  has  lotsa cheese.

 Here goes the recipe:
I  have  used  a 9X9 baking dish,which is  good enough for  4-5 people.

Ingredients:

                                                                                                                       (Click on the picture to enlarge)
1. Lasagna noodle(It  is   flat verity  of  noodle specially used  for  lasagna,so is the name  I guess) - 6
2. mozzarella cheese - 1  cup
3. ricotta cheese - 1  cup
4. Egg -1
5. Chopped  Celery - 4 tb sp
6. Chopped garlic -2  tb sp
7. Chopped Red bell pepper - 1 tb sp
8. Dried Oregano -  1 tsp
9. Dried  parsley - 1  tbsp
10. Mince Turkey -  1lb
11. Pasta sauce-  2 cups
12.  Grated part skim  Mozzarella  - 1 cup
13. Grated cheddar cheese - 1/2 cup
14. Grated Parmesan cheese - 1 tb sp
15. Olive Oil - 2 tb sp

Preparation :

First   prepare the meat  sauce and  then assemble  all the  ingredients   to  slip into the  preheated oven.

Meat Sauce preparation:

1. Pour  1 tb sp Olive oil on a hot skillet and keep  all the veggies ready.Toss in garlic,celery and red bell pepper(You can add veggies of your  choice here like carrot,different coloured bell peppers,,but everything should  be finely chopped,so that you don't  any big  bites of veggies while  eating lasagna).

2. After a minute add the  minced turkey  breast(I like to use  leaner  meat  and turkey breast is lean,You  can  do  variation with any meat you prefer). Add  salt to your  taste.

3. Cook for  about 10-15 minutes or until the  meat is done.Add the Classico pasta sauce to the meat. Here  any sauce will do but I like Classico`s sauces as they  are very flavourful. I have  used here Tomato & Pesto flavoured one.

4.Add dried  Oregano , parsley and mix well.Taste the sauce, isn't it yummy.Keep it aside.

Now we will cook lasagna pasta and then assemble the Lasagna:

The second step is  cook the lasagna pasta:

1. Boil  enough water for 4 pieces of  lasagna  noodles.Add some salt to the boiling water.Lasagna noodles are long but once you put them in  water they  will soften,,,so you really don't need a  big big vessel to cook them. Cook for about 7 minutes.Drain them  and brush little oil and keep  aside.

The third step is to  make the ricotta mixture:

1. Mix ricotta cheese, 1egg,1 tb sp Oregano and 1 tbsp Parsley ,Keep it aside.The herbs you use can be  fresh or dry.I have used dry here,just because I had  them handy in my pantry.

Now  the last step, assemble the lasagna:

1.Preheat the oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit for  about 15 minutes before you  pop in the assembled Lasagna

2. Now  you  are ready with  all the  ingredients,

First layer: Spread the  meat sauce evenly on the bottom of your baking dish.

Second layer: A layer  of  lasagna noodles.Layer the noodles evenly  in a single  layer,you  can cut them short  to fit your  baking dish.

Third  layer: The ricotta mixture.Try to spread  each layer  evenly and  the ricotta  layers  adds  a lot of flavour to the lasagna.

Fourth Layer: Another single layer of Lasagna noodles

Fifth Layer : Meat sauce

Sixth Layer: Ricotta mixture

Top  Layer: Spread  the grated Mozzarella cheese evenly on top.Here I added some  cheddar cheese.But the cheddar cheese  is  absolutely  optional.

3. Cover the  baking dish with  an  aluminium foil

4. Bake  for  30 minutes covered at  350  degree Fahrenheit .

5. Now uncover the aluminium foil and  sprinkle  some  Parmesan on top and  bake uncovered  for  10  more minutes.

Now the Turkey Lasagna is ready and  let it sit for  10 minutes  and   cut through to plate it