Dana's Carmella Soprano Lasagna

I don't profess this to be Carmella's specific lasagna but it's my version of it. While watching the Sopranos one night someone talked about Carmella's lasagna with the layer of sausage and sweet peppers so I came up with my own version that used sausage instead of ground beef. It's been known as my Carmella Soprano Lasagne ever since.

Here's how it goes:

Use any kind of lasagna noodles you like. If you like fresh, they're fabulous. If you boil yours, no worries! If you like the ready-to-bake lasagna by all means (just add extra sauce with that kind as it is essential!).

I like two layers of stuff which means you need 9-12 noodle strips depending on the length and width of your pan. My large rectangle pan fits three strips across and usually a half a noodle at the end. Sometimes I'l make two as this freezes really well as well.

Make it as high as you like, though. You can have multiple layers of these ingredients.

Brown some sweet Italian sausage in Olive oil and get it crumbly or into very small pieces, some rainbow coloured diced peppers (I like to use orange, red and yellow) and lots of fresh mushrooms. This mixture is going to be your bottom layer between your first two noodles. I add a bit of mozzarella in this layer and some sauce to help it glue together.

The next layer consists of ricotta and spinach. I use thawed frozen spinach that's chopped and dry it really well before mixing in with my ricotta (one tub usually makes due with a half a square package of spinach).

The top requires lots of italian tomato sauce and cheese. Use as many cheeses as you like. I like to use Kraft Italian blend with parmesan and / or romano cheese on top.

Bake according to your lasagna noodle directions under tin foil until the last fifteen minutes when you take it off to get the cheese bubbly and golden.

Serve with bruschetta and cesar salad if you like. As I said, I don't know what Carmella would've put in her lasagna but mention of her recipe inspired this one and it's the only way I make it nowadays.