Three-Cheese Sausage Lasagna -- What We'll Make When Ethan Comes Home

Spring 2021 and the world has changed again — vaccines arriving, the lockdown lifting incrementally, the outdoor workshops starting to come indoors again cautiously. There is a different energy in the community center sessions now. People are glad to be in a room together. The social hunger that food already meets was sharpened by a year of isolation and now every class has a warmth that I didn't manufacture, that just lives in the room because people are finally back in rooms together.

Mason is fourteen and officially the family's unofficial lunch-and-weeknight-dinner cook. I didn't plan this, he grew into it. He makes things I don't ask for: a pot of beans one Tuesday, a pan of cornbread another, a lemon chicken thigh dish on Thursday that had everyone asking for more. He's starting to cook from instinct rather than recipe, adjusting while he tastes, understanding what a dish needs. I watch this and feel something I can only describe as recognition — I'm watching something I know, in someone I love, and it's entirely his own version of it.

Ethan's letters from Italy are about food. Unsurprisingly. He writes about what he's been eating — dishes in families' homes, the way an Italian grandmother makes ragù that simmers for four hours, a seaside lunch on a day off that changed how he thinks about fish. He says he'll cook these things when he comes home. He says he's keeping a notebook. Of course he is.

Two notebooks on missions, apparently — the one about the work and the one about the food. My boy. I am so glad he's exactly who he is.

Reading Ethan’s letters about that Italian grandmother and her four-hour ragù — I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I can’t give him Italy right now, but I can have something layered and slow and deeply satisfying ready when he walks back through the door. This three-cheese sausage lasagna is exactly that kind of dish: the kind Mason could own on a Thursday night, the kind that fills the kitchen with a smell that says you’re home.

Three-Cheese Sausage Lasagna

Prep Time: 30 min | Cook Time: 1 hr | Total Time: 1 hr 30 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 15 oz whole-milk ricotta cheese
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 cup shredded provolone cheese

Instructions

1. Brown the sausage. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the Italian sausage, breaking it apart with a spoon, until no longer pink, about 6–8 minutes. Add the onion and cook until softened, 3–4 minutes more. Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute.
2. Build the sauce. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
3. Cook the noodles. While the sauce simmers, cook lasagna noodles according to package directions until just al dente. Drain and lay flat on a lightly oiled baking sheet to prevent sticking.
4. Mix the ricotta layer. In a medium bowl, stir together the ricotta, egg, parsley, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
5. Assemble the lasagna. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread 1 cup of meat sauce on the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Layer 3 noodles over the sauce. Spread one-third of the ricotta mixture over the noodles, then top with one-third of the remaining meat sauce, followed by 3/4 cup mozzarella and 1/3 cup provolone. Repeat the layers twice more. Top with the final 3 noodles, remaining sauce, remaining mozzarella, provolone, and the last 1/4 cup Parmesan.
6. Bake covered. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 35 minutes.
7. Bake uncovered. Remove foil and bake an additional 20–25 minutes until the top is golden and bubbling and the edges are slightly caramelized.
8. Rest before serving. Let the lasagna rest for 15 minutes before cutting. This allows the layers to set so each slice holds its shape.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 520 | Protein: 31g | Fat: 26g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 890mg