Spinach lasagne / Spinach lasagna

Lasagna is a traditional Italian dish which is now popular all around the world. Spinach lasagna is a baked dish of layers of lasagna pasta with tomato sauce, cheese and spinach mixture. It is a heavy and rich dish prepared with loads of cheese, so obviously it has lots of calories and people who are diet conscious can have this delicious lasagne once in a while.

Ingredients:

Serves 6 to 8

• 12 to15 sheets – Lasagna (uncooked)
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups – Ragu pasta sauce ( or use as needed)
• 340 gm / 2 to 3 cups – Mozzarella cheese (grated)
• Red chilli flakes for garnishing

For spinach mixture:

• 1 tsp – Olive oil
• 2 cups – Spinach (tightly packed )(142 g)
• 1 small – Onion (chopped finely)
• 1 clove – Garlic (chopped finely)
• 1/4 tsp – Italian seasonings
• 300 gm – Ricotta cheese
• Salt and pepper powder as needed

Preparation method:

How to cook lasagna:

1. Take a big and wide vessel, fill it with enough water and bring it to rolling boil. Add little salt and olive oil, if desired.
2. Add lasagna sheets and stir until water returns to a boil. Cook and stir occasionally for about 10 minutes. No need to cook lasagna sheets completely, it is good enough to half cook them. Drain water completely and keep it covered aside for later use.

How to prepare spinach mixture:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add chopped garlic and onion, saute for a minute. Then add chopped spinach and saute for few minutes until spinach reduces its volume. No need to cook spinach completely. Allow them to cool completely.
2. Transfer this mixture to a mixing bowl, add ricotta cheese, required salt and pepper powder, Italian seasoning, mix well everything and set it aside.

How to arrange and bake spinach lasagna:

1. Take a baking tray ( i used 8 in x 8 in glassware), apply olive oil all over the baking tray and spread 1 big scoop of tomato sauce. Place 5 lasagna sheets (number of sheets depends on the size of the baking tray) over sauce, overlapping edges.
2. Spread another layer of tomato sauce over it so that you cover all the lasagna sheets. Now spread a layer of the spinach cheese mixture and grated mozzarella cheese.
3. Again cover it by arranging the lasagna sheets as before. Now again spread tomato sauce, spinach mixture, mozzarella cheese and finally with lasagna sheets.
4. Spread remaining tomato sauce on top and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and garnish with red chilli flakes.
5. Cover with aluminum foil and bake it in a preheated oven (350 F or 180 C) for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove the foil and bake or change the settings to broil for another 5 to 10 minutes until cheese are slightly golden brown in color. Let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes:

• I used less tomato sauce as per my family taste level. But actual recipe calls for little more tomato sauce, so increase or decrease tomato sauce as per your taste.
• I used store bought tomato sauce for preparing lasagna this time to reduce the cooking time. But you can prepare this sauce at home and i had already posted it ( refer here for recipe).
• I half cooked lasagna sheets before making this recipe. When i searched for lasagna recipe, most of the recipes used uncooked lasagna sheets while baking. But my friend, she recommended me to half cook lasagna sheets before baking it. I felt half cooked lasagna worked better for me and lasagna cooked perfectly after baking it. Also it was very easy for me to make slices.
• Some lasagna sheets are long or broad, so you can cut or break it according to the size of your baking tray either before or after it is cooked.
• Number of lasagna sheets depends on the size of your baking tray. Mine can hold 15 lasagna sheets.
• Covering with aluminum foil while baking prevents over cooking of mozzarella cheese on the top, If not covered, it gets browned and burnt soon.
• Garnishing with red chilli flakes gives nice spiciness to the mild lasagna and also it is completely optional.
• You may increase or decrease quantity of mozzarella cheese as per your taste.

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