Lasagne!

Tonight was the third time I've made lasagne in my dutch oven. It's always fun, because I often get that reaction like, "Lasagne? In a dutch oven? Is that... um... legal?"

I love it when they do that!

And this one is pretty easy to do, so I'll include it in the "Basic Dutching" list of recipes. It's a two-step, but neither step is complex. Brown the sausage, then make the layers and bake. Unlike most indoor lasagne recipes, you don't need to cook the noodles first. In the times before, I mixed the ricotta with the sauce, but this time, I didn't. I like the separate layers. It makes the tastes more distinct.

Anyway, here it is:

Dutch Oven Lasagne:

10" Dutch Oven
7 coals below
14 coals above

• 3 links (which amounts to a little under a lb. About 3/4 lbs, actually) mild to medium italian sausage
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 jar commercial spaghetti sauce
  
• a coupla hefty shakes of oregano
• a mild shake of Basil
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• Lots of salt (to taste)
  
• 16 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 box (12 oz) uncooked lasagne noodles
• Shredded mozarella

To start with, fire up a lot of coals. As they get white, layer them flat and close together and put the dutch oven with the sausage (crumbled) in it. Cook the sausage.

While this is going on, mix up the sauce, the onions, and the spices. When the sausage is done, add it. Stir it all up.

Then, you'll make a stack of layers in the dutch oven. From the bottom, those layers are:

• A thin layer of the sauce mix
• A layer of dry noodles (still uncooked)
• Spread on a layer of ricotta cheese
• Scatter a layer of mozarella
• A layer of sauce mix
• More noodles
• More Ricotta (the last of it)
  
• More mozarella
• More sauce
• More noodles
• A little more sauce
• smother the whole thing in deep mozarella.

Spread the coals into a ring of 7, and set the dutch oven on it. Then put 14 burning coals on top. Bake it for about 45 minutes or so, turning the oven and the lid every 20 minutes or so. The cool thing about it is that the moisture in the sauce and the ricotta will cook the noodles soft, so you don't have to precook them. It's really delicious.

And for sunday, I'm going to try venison chili. My brother-in-law is an avid hunter and has some that he offered me. I'm pretty excited about it.