Spinach is one of my favorite greens. I love spinach raw in salads, blended up in a green smoothie, or cooked in dishes like this one. Its mild flavor pairs well with many dishes. Spinach cooks very quickly and is a power house for nutrition. Spinach has vitamin A, potassium and magnesium, and leafy greens are know for being an excellent source of folic acid. I’m sounding like a nutrition textbook now so I’ll get started showing you the dish I prepared for dinner.
Lasagna is a wonderful and comforting meal. These roll ups have the same flavors with individual portions, faster prep time, shorter cooking time, and, well, they are just kinda fun! They are great when the weather is warm and you don’t want to have the oven on for 45-60 minutes cooking a lasagna. These cook in just about 20 minutes in the oven.
I started by boiling 12 lasagna noodles. While those are cooking (only until al dente, because they have oven time too) you can start preparing your filling. I had a bag of spinach from last weeks share that needed some love. I took the stems off and gave them a good cleaning.
I love using a salad spinner, it’s a kitchen tool I recommend to all CSAers. I used the whole bag of spinach. Once clean, it went into the vitamix (you could use a food processor or chop spinach by hand as well), with salt, pepper, and a cup of ricotta cheese.
Blend that up for a quick filling for the pasta rolls. I have to say this made me think about the amazing ricotta we had in the winter share this year. That cheese was beyond good! Here’s a look at the filling:
You our can use other greens in this or even mix in some crumbled cooked sausage or prosciutto too! Play around with the flavors, that’s what makes cooking so fun! Just before the noodles are done you need to put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of your baking dish. This helps to prevent the rolls from sticking to the pan.
Lay out the pasta on a clean counter or cutting board and spread a heaping tablespoon or so onto each. You don’t want to add too much filling or you will over stuff the rolls.
Start rolling the pasta and place the rolls seam side down into the baking dish. Make sure that the rolls are spaced far enough apart so they don’t touch and bake themselves together.
If if you have any extra filling, which I did, I placed it on top of the rolls. Cover them with more sauce and shredded cheese. I like to use two or sometimes more types of cheese. Today I used parmesean cheese and smoked Gouda cheese.
Cover them tightly with foil and put them in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. You have a great meal hot out of the oven. Serve with a side salad or some fresh Springdell veggies from your weekly share. Enjoy!