serves, i dunno, lots. be advised that you will likely have leftover sauce, but never fear as it works beautifully as a regular pasta sauce or served over nice white fish.
6 lasagne noodles
a couple glugs of oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper or 2 red shepherd peppers, roughly chopped
2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
a generous slosh of tinned crushed tomato
a small handful of fresh basil, chiffonade
a generous sprinkle of oregano
1 medium carrot, grated
1 small chile, seeded and chopped
1 egg
1 cup ricotta
a good handful of chopped spinach from one of those frozen blocks, thawed
1/2 pound of mozzarella, shredded
salt and pepper to taste
heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. add onion and garlic and fry for a minute, then add peppers, tomato, and chile. simmer until peppers have softened and tomatoes have begun to disintegrate. add crushed tomato, basil, oregano, carrot, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until a nice thick and chunky sauce forms.
meanwhile, cook lasagne noodles until al dente in boiling salted water. drain and set aside.
beat egg until frothy, then beat in ricotta, then spinach, salt, and pepper. set aside.
preheat oven to 350°. in a 9"x9" (give or take) ovenproof dish, spread a thin layer of sauce. cover with a layer of noodles, trimming excess if necessary. spread noodles with a layer of spinach and ricotta mixture, followed by a layer of tomato sauce, and a sprinkling of mozzarella. cover with another layer of noodles, then ricotta, then tomato sauce, then mozzarella. bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. (it is wise to place a piece of tinfoil under your pan, as some sauce may bubble over, and that's a real pain to clean out of the oven later if it drips onto the oven floor.) cover with foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. remove from oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving, if you can restrain yourself from voraciously tucking in.
