Farmer's Market Lasagna

Farmer's Market Lasagna
Serves 4 generously

tomato sauce (recipe follows)
4 ounces ricotta cheeses
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, grated
3/4 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
2 zucchini, sliced into rounds
lasagna noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 F. Set a large pot of water on to boil.

Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, heat one tablespoon of olive oil over moderately-high heat. Sauté zucchini until soft and brown in spots. Remove zucchini to a bowl, and set aside.

In the same pan, brown the sausage, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. Remove to another bowl and set aside.

Cook lasagna noodles according to package instructions, but remove from water about 2 minutes earlier than instructed (the noodles will continue to cook in the oven).

Spoon a bit of tomato sauce into the bottom of a 8x8 inch baking dish. Top with noodles cut to fit the pan (don't get out a ruler or anything, just eyeball this). Layer zucchini, sausage, ricotta, and mozzarella. Top with more noodles and more sauce. Keep layering, ending with a layer of mozzarella. Place baking dish on a cookie sheet to catch any overflow and bake for 20-25 minutes until cheese is melted and lasagna is bubblingly hot.

Tomato Sauce
adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

6 large, ripe tomatoes,*** about 5 pounds
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, peeled and cut in half

Bring a pot of water to boil. Score an "X" on the bottom of each tomato and drop into the boiling water for a minute. Pluck tomatoes back out of the water and peel (this is a cinch).

In a medium sauce pan, add tomatoes, onion and butter. Let simmer moderately for about 45 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced somewhat, stirring occasionally to break up the tomatoes. Season with salt and remove the onion. Freeze any leftover sauce up to three months.

***If I were doing this again, I think I would use plum tomatoes (or maybe even a different tomato sauce recipe altogether). Since they have less juice, I imagine I would have had a way less saucy sauce on my hands.