Spinach Lasagna RollupsSo this weekend was a long one because we celebrated labor day this Monday! Thanks to this day, Americans don’t work crazy long hours (barring a few demanding fields) and if they do, they get paid for the overtime. This makes me wish the working hours for an employee in India (or for that matter an employee working for an Indian company in the US) would improve someday too. Having being part of that rat race for a few years, I feel the Indian companies are not family oriented at all. And why would they be? There is more supply (candidates) than the demand (vacancies) in the Indian job market. Not that it is a good enough reason to be ruthless.

The concept of 9 to 5 is heard of but kind of unheard of, if it makes any sense. I admire the working moms who manage both home and work front. But am sure, in this process they are burning the candle at both the ends. And to top it all off, the guilt of still not being able to spend some quality time with the kids is unbearable. I agree that America is one of the least friendly country when it comes to laws regarding maternity leave but to be honest, as a mom, I would rather go back to a 9 to 5 job 4-5 months earlier than working 9 to 9 (right after my leave is over) for the rest of my career.

Anyways, let me come back to food. I tend to digress from time to time. I have an opinion about quite a few things and sometimes I feel the need to rant. So this long weekend I tried my hand at these spinach lasagna roll ups and I have to say, they were, hands down, the best Italian food I have eaten up till now. The pasta sheets filled with creamy spinach filling were perfectly balanced by the spicy sauce on top. Even though, marinara sauce is used traditionally for lasagna, I loved the flavorful arrabiata sauce in this dish. This lasagna gets ready in minutes if you have the spinach mix and arrabiata sauce prepared a day ahead. Very few non-Indian dishes occupy a permanent place in my weekly dinner menu, but this one is right there on the top.

Spinach Lasagna rollups

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Yield: 8 roll ups

Ingredients

  • 8 lasagna sheets
  • Arrabiata sauce (I made the whole batch and for a less spicy version, you can skip the chili powder)
  • 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
  • 2-3 basil leaves
  • 2-3 tbsp. chopped chives (optional)
    • For Spinach mix
  • 150 gms spinach
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil
  • 3-4 big cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 onion finely chopped
  • little less than 1/2 tsp salt
  • black pepper
    • For rest of the filling:
  • 1 cup Ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
  • 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
  • 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • black pepper

Instructions

  1. Prepare the arrabiata sauce as per the recipe and let it cool. Keep it a little on the runny side.
    2. For the spinach mix
  2. In a pan, add oil and let it heat.
  3. Add garlic to it and when it changes color slightly, add onion.
  4. When onions are translucent, add chopped spinach.
  5. Add salt and black pepper. When all the water from spinach dries out and it becomes paste-like, dish out and keep aside.
    6. For the filling
  6. In a bowl, add ricotta cheese and whip it to make it smooth. Add mozzarella cheese (1/4 cup), parmesan cheese, salt and black pepper.
  7. Mix the spinach mix with the filling and keep aside.
  8. Boil the pasta as per the instruction. Drain it out and let it dry on a paper towel.
  9. Preheat the oven to 425F.
  10. Spread the filling all over the pasta sheet and roll it gently. Repeat the same for all the pasta sheets.
  11. In a oven proof dish, put all the rolls, seam side down and pour the arrabiata sauce all over. Make sure the sauce covers the rolls all over.
  12. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup), chives and basil leaves.
  13. Place the dish in the oven on the center rack and let it bake for about 20 min or until the cheese melts away completely and the sauce starts bubbling.
  14. Serve it hot immediately.

Notes

Even though my lasagna sheets were oven-ready, I still boiled them and cooked them completely because I don't like to drench my lasagna with too much sauce and the part of pasta that is not covered with sauce will remain raw.

The image above does not have all the sauce poured over the pasta. I poured the rest of it after clicking it. I did this for clarity and visibility.

You can prepare the rolls and arrange them in the dish. Half an hour before you are ready to eat, pour the sauce, sprinkle cheese and bake them as they taste best when hot.

you can avoid cooking the spinach mix by getting frozen spinach. I like the flavors of cooked spinach better.

If you are using cottage cheese in this recipe, pulse it in the grinder once to get the same consistency as ricotta cheese.

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