Every time I make this, I forget how great it is! This is very similar to traditional lasagna, but I think it's less dry, and easier to serve. I got this recipe from Giada De Laurentis. No, I don't know her personally, although I wish I did! I think I got it from the Food Network site. This is a dish you can prepare the night before, or even a few days before. In fact, this is what I did for Easter this year. I did all my cooking the day before, and all I had to do, was to stick things in the oven after we got home from church. I will caution, if you prepare it the night before, let the pan come to room temperature before you bake it, or it will take much longer to bake.
This recipe calls for making a béchamel sauce for the bottom of the pan, which I do, because I think it adds a bit of creaminess to the whole thing, but you can certainly skip that step and just put marinara sauce on the bottom of your pan. Another change I made this time, was to use fresh spinach instead of frozen chopped. I chopped the fresh raw spinach and added it to the cheese mixture.
If you are vegetarian, you can certainly leave out the prosciutto, but I really feel that it adds something to the dish. Or, maybe it's just because I really LOVE prosciutto. For those of you who aren't familiar, prosciutto is a kind of Italian dry cured ham. It is always sliced very thinly, and it's a real treat. You could probably substitute regular thin sliced ham, but it's a very different flavor. So here is the recipe, pretty much the same as the one I originally got from the internet.
Béchamel Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
4 teaspoons flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of nutmeg
Lasagna:
1 box dried lasagna noodles ( don't use the no boil ones, they won't work)
1 15 ounce container ricotta cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese plus more for sprinkling on top
3 ounces of thinly sliced prosciutto
1 large egg, beaten
1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained (or 1 to 2 cups raw fresh spinach, chopped)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt plus more for salting the water
2 cups marinara sauce - I use homemade, but you can certainly use a good jarred sauce
1 cup (about 4 ounces) shredded mozzarella
2 tablespoons olive oil
Begin by putting a large pot of water on to boil for the lasagna noodles. When the water boils, add the olive oil and a tablespoon of salt to the water. Cook according to package directions to al dente.
While the pasta water is heating, make the béchamel sauce, melt butter in a sauce pan over medium low heat, and add flour. Whisk to form a roux for about 2 to 3 minutes. Increase the temperature to medium high and add the milk, continue whisking until the sauce begins to thicken. This should take about three minutes. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg and whisk until they are incorporated. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9" by 13" ovenproof pan and pour the béchamel sauce over the bottom of the pan. If you are not using béchamel sauce, increase the amount of marinara to 3 1/2 cups and pour 1 1/2 cups over the bottom of the pan.
When the lasagna noodles are done, remove and lay out on a cookie sheet or large cutting board. Put layers of parchment, waxed paper, or plastic wrap between layers of the noodles. Now prepare the filling.
Preheat oven to 450F. If you are using frozen spinach, defrost and squeeze out all the liquid. If using fresh spinach (about 1 - 2 cups) chop the raw spinach. Layer the prosciutto and chop it finely. In a large bowl add ricotta, beaten egg, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, prosciutto and spinach, and mix well. Take the noodles one at a time and spread a layer of the ricotta mixture over them. Begin rolling them up from one short end and place in pan seam side down. Continue until you have used all your filling. Depending on how many noodles where in your box, you can make between 12 - 18 rolls. Once they are in the pan, pour over one cup of the marinara sauce. Sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons of parmesan and the one cup of mozzarella. Cover tightly with foil, but try not to let the foil touch the cheese. At this point, you can refrigerate the lasagna for use the next day, or bake in a 450F oven for about 20 minutes, remove the foil and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the top becomes golden. Heat the remaining marinara sauce and serve with the lasagna. Serve with a salad and crunchy Italian bread (to mop up all the yummy sauce). Enjoy!
Happy Cooking!
Carol
a.k.a.
Nonnie
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