For busy people, especially those with large families, it is essential to have recipes of a few ultimate comfort foods at hand.
Spinach Lasagna is precisely such a meal, one that’s nourishing, comforting and soothing. Better yet, it is also a dish well known to fetch requests for seconds. With layers of ooey-goeey cheesiness and sauciness, spinach lasagna is packed with lots of carbs and vegetables.
The only secret of good Lasagna lies in its sauce. And once “good” has been associated with “sauce”, market bought just won’t do (not for me). In classic spinach lasagna, you will need 2 types of sauce – a red sauce and a white sauce.
Usually if it was a meat sauce, I would be spending about 40minutes on it and another 20minutes on the béchamel but today in this post I am going to give you a quick recipe with irresistible results.
Let’s get started…
Ingredients: – (serves 6)
• 12-15 Lasagne Sheets
• 2 cups boiled & chopped spinach
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped
• ½ cup mushroom chopped (any will do – portabella, shitake or button)
• 1/2 cup butter
• ½ cup milk
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• salt & pepper to taste
• 8 juicy tomatoes, cut into halves
• 3 cloves garlic
• ¼ cup basil
• 1-2 tbsp oregano
• 1-2 tsp cayenne pepper (according to taste)
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1 cup grated parmesan
• ½ cup ricotta or cottage cheese
• 1/3 other cheeses (cheddar or mozerrella) – optional
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup red wine (optional)
Method:
1. Cook the lasagne sheets for 4-5 minutes in boiling water. Add salt and a tablespoon of olive oil to the pot.
2. Once the lasagne sheets are cooked (do not drain them into a colander), place each sheet on a baking sheet or a flat surface and oil them with olive oil.
For the white sauce:-
3. In a wide skillet, add 1tablespoon of butter. Sauté the white onions and mushroom for about 4-5minutes. Turn of heat and set aside.
4. Melt butter and pour into a big mixing bowl. To this add the flour while stirring with a wooden spoon or a whisk. Pour milk little by little to help with breaking the chunks. Mix until you get a thick white base.
5. Once your sauce is silky smooth, season with salt and black pepper.
6. Add the onions, mushroom and spinach to the sauce. Mix all the ingredients together.
7. Add the ricotta cheese and 1/3 of the Parmesan prepared. Mix again.
8. Set the white sauce aside.
For the red sauce :-
9. Add tomato, garlic and basil into a food processor. Grind till the texture is thick but smooth.
10. Now in the same skillet (that you used to prepared the mushrooms), add olive oil. Once the oil is hot, pour in the ingredients from the food processor. Let this cook for a good 7-10minutes. Stir occasionally.
11. Pour the red wine into the tomato mixture and cook for another 3 minutes.
12. Season the red sauce with salt, black pepper, oregano, cayenne pepper, & ketchup. Mix well.
Finally to assemble: –
13. Preheat the oven at 180 C.
14. In your preferred lasagna bake ware, spread some olive oil on the bottom and sides. Lay out the first layer of lasagna sheets.
15. Spoon a dollop of the white sauce and spread it out over the already spread lasagna sheets.
16. Cover this layer with another layer of sheets.
17. Spread a coat of the tomato sauce on top of the second layer of sheets. (Be generous with the sauce.)
18. Top the red sauce with lots of grated parmesan and other cheeses of your choice.
19. Repeat steps 14,15,16 and 17 until you fill your lasagna pan. Make sure your top most layer is the cheeses over the sauce.
20. Sprinkle some more olive oil over the top and on the sides.
21. Cover your pan with an aluminum foil.
22. Bake the lasagna for about 10minutes then remove the foil and bake for another 10minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and brown.
23. Serve with fresh salad on the side.
Enjoy!!!
