I'm on a Roll! (so to speak)

Lest you start to think that I spend my days baking sweet goodie after sweet goodie… I give you… Lasagna Rolls! This was a Giada DiLaurentiis recipe that I trimmed down. “Trimmed down” is my nice way of saying I lightened up on the fat! Giada called for loads of whole milk, whole milk mozzarella and whole milk ricotta… as well as prosciutto! YIKES. So I used 1% milk, part-skim everything else and eliminated the prosciutto altogether. I bumped up the garlic factor and used fresh spinach and made, quite honestly, one humdinger of a pasta dish. The best part is this recipe is great for non-gluten free people, too! Just substitute the GF lasagna noodles for your run-of-the-mill gluten-y ones! The recipe may look intimidating, but it was actually less work than traditional lasagna.

I will be entertaining some vegetarian friends in a few weeks and am pretty sure I’ll be making this recipe. Considering the meal will need to be peanut-free, potato-free, gluten-free AND meat-free, this one fits the bill perfectly!

Oh – one more thing. Did I mention that my kids ate spinach without complaining about it? For that matter, without even realizing it was in there? My daughter just assumed it was the Italian herbs I normally use. This one is looking better and better with every word I type, isn’t it?

Lasagna Rolls

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

4 Tbsp butter

1 ¼ cup milk plus ¼ cup, separated (I use 1%)

4 tsp cornstarch

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1 (15oz) container part-skim ricotta cheese

½ bag of fresh spinach, about 4-5 cups

1 cup plus 4 Tbsp grated Parmesan

1 egg

¾ tsp salt, plus more for salting pasta water

½ tsp pepper

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

12 uncooked gluten free pasta noodles (I used Tinkyada), 8 for dinner and 4 extra in case any tear

2 cups marinara sauce

1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

To make the béchamel sauce:

Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and sauté lightly. Add the spinach and stir until wilted, but still nice and green. Remove spinach from pan onto a plastic cutting board. Chop the spinach into smaller pieces.

In the same pan, add the other 2 Tbsp of butter. Once melted, add the 1 ¼ cups of milk, stirring occasionally until heated. Stir together the other ¼ cup of milk and the cornstarch and pour into the hot milk. Stir until thickened. Add salt (to taste), pepper and 2 Tbsp of Parmesan. Stir to combine.

To prepare the pasta:

Add the olive oil to a large pot of boiling, salted water. Boil the noodles until just tender. Drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water.

To make the filling:

Whisk the ricotta, spinach, 1 cup of Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Set aside.

To put rolls together:

Spray a 13x9 glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Pour the béchamel sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Lay out a lasagna noodle on a cutting board and spread about 3 Tbsp of the ricotta mixture over each noodle. Starting at one end, roll the noodle up. Lay each roll seam side down in the béchamel sauce, being careful not to let them touch each other. Spoon 1 cup of marinara sauce over the lasagna rolls. Sprinkle the remaining 2 Tbsp Parmesan and the mozzarella cheese over the rolls.

Cover tightly with foil. Bake until heated through and the sauce bubbles, about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until the cheese on top becomes golden, about 15 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes.

The additional 1 cup of marinara can be heated and served as an additional sauce for the rolls.