lasagna

Lasagna Rolls

Lasagna used to scare the crap out of me. The idea behind lasagna, for me, was hardworking Italian nonnas slaving away in their kitchens all day, dropping bits of blood, sweat, and tears into the lasagnas to give them them exquisite flavours. They seemed like this huge, time consuming, difficult thing to make. I found out that lasagna is as easy as you want it to be. This recipe, for example, is probably one of the fool proof recipes I have made. You have sauce, noodles, meat and cheese. There's nothing that you can do to mess it up!

                         Makes 2 loaf pans of lasagna rolls (8 rolls)                    

  • 2 aluminum loaf pans
  • 8 cooked lasagna noodles (I used spinach noodles)
  • 1/2lb ground turkey or ground beef, or neither!
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 26 oz pasta sauce, homemade or jarred
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 C ricotta cheese
  • Handful of frozen spinach, thawed, rinsed, drained, squeezed dry and chopped
  • 1 egg
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 C mozzarella cheese, shredded. You can buy it bagged, or be fancy and use fresh fior di latte mozzarella.

1. Cook your lasagna noodles al dente, as per instructions on the package. Drain, rinse with cold water and spread out on a clean surface. Preheat oven to 350 Celsius.

2. In a large skillet, cook the turkey or beef over medium high heat. Break apart into a fine crumble and add the onion. Cook until the meat is browned and the onion is translucent. Drain the meat. 

3. Stir in pasta sauce and seasoning, including salt and pepper. Taste the sauce to make sure its seasoned to your liking. Simmer over very low heat for 15 minutes.

4. Mix ricotta, chopped spinach and egg in a small bowl.

5. Pour about 1/2 C of sauce into each loaf pan.

5. Spread 1/4 C ricotta mixture onto each lasagna noodle, leaving about 1 inch of space without ricotta on the end. Roll the lasagna noodles starting at the side that has ricotta on it, towards the side that doesn't.

5. Arrange each lasagna roll in the loaf pan, seam side down.

6. Pour/spread the rest of the pasta sauce over the tops of the lasagna rolls and cover in cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 3-5 minutes longer, until the cheese is all melted. 

7. Let it stand for about 10 minutes and then devour like crazy!

 

Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker