A few years ago, I went to a pot-luck dinner where one of the dishes was a
lasagna. It was the red-sauce variety, with crumbled Italian sausage,
ricotta, mozzarella. There was lots of sauce, and the sauce had a
surprisingly wonderful touch of cinnamon to it. The guy who brought it said
it's just the way his mom taught him to make lasagna...and it was the best
I've ever had.

I'd like to recreate that lasagna, but I'm not sure how much cinnamon to
use, or what other herbs/spices/flavorings would be appropriate. I've tried
allrecipes, epicurious, and google, with no luck. Well, allrecipes had a
veggie lasagna recipe that used cinnamon, and in the absence of other info
I'll use that as input, but I really wanted something specific to sausage.

Thanks!
Chris

On Fri, 3 Oct 2003 12:56:25 -0400, "Chris and Bob Neidecker"
> wrote:

>A few years ago, I went to a pot-luck dinner where one of the dishes was a
>lasagna. It was the red-sauce variety, with crumbled Italian sausage,
>ricotta, mozzarella. There was lots of sauce, and the sauce had a
>surprisingly wonderful touch of cinnamon to it. The guy who brought it said
>it's just the way his mom taught him to make lasagna...and it was the best
>I've ever had.
>
>I'd like to recreate that lasagna, but I'm not sure how much cinnamon to
>use, or what other herbs/spices/flavorings would be appropriate. I've tried
>allrecipes, epicurious, and google, with no luck. Well, allrecipes had a
>veggie lasagna recipe that used cinnamon, and in the absence of other info
>I'll use that as input, but I really wanted something specific to sausage.

I bet someone in the family was Greek, where they do pasta with tomato
sauce as well and where it's pretty common to put cinnamon in the
tomato sauce. Do a google under greek tomato sauce or Greek lasagna or
pastito to find the one that looks the most like what you're after in
the rest of the recipe. For a start

http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/e...lasagna01.html
http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/e...to-sauce1.html

Kim

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"Chris and Bob Neidecker" > wrote in message
...
> A few years ago, I went to a pot-luck dinner where one of the dishes was a
> lasagna. It was the red-sauce variety, with crumbled Italian sausage,
> ricotta, mozzarella. There was lots of sauce, and the sauce had a
> surprisingly wonderful touch of cinnamon to it. The guy who brought it
said
> it's just the way his mom taught him to make lasagna...and it was the best
> I've ever had.
>
> I'd like to recreate that lasagna, but I'm not sure how much cinnamon to
> use, or what other herbs/spices/flavorings would be appropriate. I've
tried
> allrecipes, epicurious, and google, with no luck. Well, allrecipes had a
> veggie lasagna recipe that used cinnamon, and in the absence of other info
> I'll use that as input, but I really wanted something specific to sausage.
>
> Thanks!
> Chris

Here you go. I think 1 & 2 should give you an idea.

Dimitri

Baked Lasagna


1/2 c. oil (olive or Wesson)
1 sm. bunch scallions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
6 onions, chopped
1 tbsp. capers in salt
2 (15 oz.) cans tomato sauce
2 (12 oz.) cans tomato paste
5 c. water (rinse out tomato cans
with hot water)
2 tsp. dried parsley
1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. sweet basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 lb. Italian sweet sausage cut in
very thin rings (optional)
4 lbs. chopped beef
2 lg. cans sliced mushrooms
2 (1 lb.) containers Ricotta cheese
2 lbs. Mozzarella cheese (about 4 sm.
pkgs.)
4 c. grated Parmesan-Romano cheese
4 eggs, slightly beaten

SAUCE:

Brown scallions, garlic, onions and capers in hot oil until lightly brown.
Do not burn! Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, parsley, sugar and
seasonings, ground beef (broken up), then sliced Italian sausage. Cook on
low heat 1 1/2 to 2 hours covered. Cook last half hour uncovered. Add
sliced mushrooms.NOODLES:
2 (1 lb.) pkgs. Italian style lasagna
noodles
8 c. water
3 tbsp. oil (olive or Wesson)
1 tbsp. salt

Add noodles to rapidly boiling water to which has been added oil and salt.
Cook noodles until just tender. Drain. Using two 14x10x1 inch roasting
pans, cover bottoms of pans with sauce. Dividing ingredients between each
pan, layer half of noodles over sauce, spread half of Ricotta cheese over,
add half of Mozzarella cheese, half of Parmesan cheese mixed with beaten
eggs and half of meat sauce. Repeat layers. Leave a little space for
cooking -- otherwise a messy oven. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees
for 30-35 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes. Let cool 10
minutes before cutting into 6 inch squares. Serves 22-25 generously. Note:
Lasagna can be made up and frozen. Cover with Handi-wrap and foil. Thaw
completely before baking. OR you can prepare the sauce and it can be frozen
for weeks. Thaw and proceed from there.

# 2

MOM-MOM D'S LASAGNA
1 can (32 oz.) tomato puree and 1 c. water
1 can (6 oz.) tomato sauce and 1 c. water
2 lbs. Italian sweet sausage
1 lg. onion (whole)
3 lbs. Ricotta cheese
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Grated cheese
2 eggs

Mix tomato puree and sauce with water and heat to dissolve. In the
meantime, brown 2 pounds Italian sweet sausage and 1 large onion (whole) in
saucepan. When this is real brown add tomato sauce and simmer for 1 hour.
(Make your meatballs and add to sauce.) Cook lasagna halfway and cool in
colander. Mix 3 pounds Ricotta with 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon
cinnamon, some grated cheese and 2 eggs. In one 13x9 Pyrex pan put one
scoop of sauce for your first layer then a layer of lasagna then spoon on
Ricotta; blend easily. Repeat procedure until you come to the top and
sprinkle with grated cheese. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 1
hour.

# 3
3 lbs. ricotta cheese
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese, cubed
6 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs
1 jigger whiskey
1 (10 oz.) chopped frozen spinach,
cooked and drained
1 c. grated Romano cheese
1 lb. shredded Mozzarella cheese
Garlic powder
Black pepper
Dash of cinnamon
1 lb. egg noodles, cooked "al dente" and drained
48 oz. spaghetti sauce
Romano cheese

Prepare filling; mix ricotta cheese, cream cheese, eggs, bread crumbs,
whiskey, spinach, 1 cup Romano cheese until well blended. Season with dash
of cinnamon, garlic powder and black pepper. Mix thoroughly. Preheat oven
to 350 degrees. Begin layering ingredients in pan as follows: 1/3 of the
cooked noodles Several tablespoons sauce spread over noodles (1 to 1 1/4
c.) 1/2 of the filling mixture 1/3 of the cooked noodles Several
tablespoons sauce spread over noodles (1 to 1 1/4 c.) 1/4 c. grated cheese
1/2 of shredded Mozzarella cheese Remainder of the filling mixture
Remainder of the cooked noodles Several tablespoons sauce spread over
noodles (1 to 1 1/4 c.) 1/4 cup grated cheese, remaining Mozzarella Cover
with tinfoil and bake 1 hour. Remove tin foil and continue to bake until
lasagna bubbles in center, approximately 45 minutes. Remove from oven and
let stand covered 20 minutes until set. Cut and serve.

Thanks, Kim and Dimitri! You guys are fast! I will check these out and try
it soon.

Chris

In article >,
Chris and Bob Neidecker > wrote:
>A few years ago, I went to a pot-luck dinner where one of the dishes was a
>lasagna. It was the red-sauce variety, with crumbled Italian sausage,
>ricotta, mozzarella. There was lots of sauce, and the sauce had a
>surprisingly wonderful touch of cinnamon to it. The guy who brought it said
>it's just the way his mom taught him to make lasagna...and it was the best
>I've ever had.
>
>I'd like to recreate that lasagna, but I'm not sure how much cinnamon to
>use, or what other herbs/spices/flavorings would be appropriate. I've tried
>allrecipes, epicurious, and google, with no luck. Well, allrecipes had a
>veggie lasagna recipe that used cinnamon, and in the absence of other info
>I'll use that as input, but I really wanted something specific to sausage.
>
>Thanks!
>Chris
>
>

It's easy to overdo the cinnamon. I put about a half a stick in the
sauce while I'm making it and then take it out before assembling the
lasagna.

(Donna Pattee) wrote in message >...
> In article >,
> Chris and Bob Neidecker > wrote:
> >A few years ago, I went to a pot-luck dinner where one of the dishes was a
> >lasagna. It was the red-sauce variety, with crumbled Italian sausage,
> >ricotta, mozzarella. There was lots of sauce, and the sauce had a
> >surprisingly wonderful touch of cinnamon to it. The guy who brought it said
> >it's just the way his mom taught him to make lasagna...and it was the best
> >I've ever had.
> >
> >I'd like to recreate that lasagna, but I'm not sure how much cinnamon to
> >use, or what other herbs/spices/flavorings would be appropriate. I've tried
> >allrecipes, epicurious, and google, with no luck. Well, allrecipes had a
> >veggie lasagna recipe that used cinnamon, and in the absence of other info
> >I'll use that as input, but I really wanted something specific to sausage.
> >
> >Thanks!
> >Chris
> >
> >
>
> It's easy to overdo the cinnamon. I put about a half a stick in the
> sauce while I'm making it and then take it out before assembling the
> lasagna.


I have tried cinnamon in savory dishes and it just doesn't work for
us. I made a Roasted red chille risotto. I combined an Indian recipe
with Italian technique and it was nasty because of the cinnamon. No
one ate and it wasn't over powering at all.