Recipe(tried): Cajun Lasagna

This is SO good with ground venison when you can get your hands on it! Good with beef too, but awesome with venison. I'm patiently waiting for my brother-in-law to supply me with some more ground venison this season. :-) Enjoy!

CAJUN LASAGNA

FOR THE SAUCE:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 lb. ground venison or beef
1/2 lb. andoulli sausage coarsely chopped (i'm sure you could use any
sort of sausage, but andoulli is what makes it Cajun)
1 chopped onion
1 chopped jalapeno
1 teaspoon minced garlic
16 oz. diced Italian tomatoes
8 oz. tomato sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp oregano
salt to taste
red pepper to taste
black pepper to taste
FOR THE LASAGNA:
1 pack ready-to-bake lasagna noodles
1 (16 oz) container (1 lb) ricotta cheese
6 small or 3 large slices mozzarella cheese*
1 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.

TO PREPARE THE SAUCE:
Heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat, brown ground meat and sausage for about 5 minutes.

Add onion, jalapeno and garlic and saute for another 5 minutes or until onions are tender. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and all dry ingredients. Turn down heat and simmer for at least an hour...the longer the better.

TO PREPARE THE LASAGNA:
In a 13x9-inch baking dish (glass works well), spread 1/3 of the meat sauce. Top with 3 of the noodles...they curl up when they hit the hot sauce, so you might need to break them. Spread 1/2 of the ricotta over the noodles, then top with 1/3 of the meat sauce, another layer of noodles, the rest of the ricotta, the rest of the meat sauce, the parmesan, then top with the mozzarella.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.

*I didn't like that there were gaps where my mozzarella didn't touch and the sauce was showing, so I covered them up with some sliced American cheese (ran out of mozzarella).