Today’s post is dedicated to my reader’s in Antarctica. To my readers in Iceland and my readers in the coldest, darkest regions of Alaska.
This post is dedicated to anyone who will be nowhere near a pool for weeks and weeks and months and has no qualms about stuffing their faces with fontina cheese, pesto sauce and a rich béchamel despite the fact that summer is here and swimsuit season is upon us.
My friends and I fit securely into that category because we had this for dinner a few weeks ago and oh, man.
Even though my shtick here is quick, simple weeknight meals that anyone can make on a work night, sometimes I like to pull out all the stops and make a meal that frustrates me.
This lasagne wasn’t difficult to prepare but it requires a great deal of two things: dishes and patience (for washing those said dishes).
There are numerous ingredients and a lot of steps.
But, don’t we all need something like this in our repertoire for when we want to break out the big guns and impress the in-laws, the new boyfriend, the coworkers? I’m nodding yes.
You’ll need a cutting boards, a pan to prepare the sauce, a colander to wash and a pan to sauté the spinach, a bowl in which to combine the ricotta mixture, a grater for the Fontina and baking dish to cook the lasagne when it all comes together.
If you have a dishwasher, you’re in business.
If you’re like me and you don’t, you’ll need to commit to this.
But it’s worth it. If you don’t believe me, let the ingredients speak for themselves: herb pesto sauce, creamy Fontina cheese, an a-list béchamel sauce and a hearty serving of iron-packed spinach between layers of nutty, whole wheat lasagne noodles.
Are you sold yet?
For the Sauce- 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 2½ cups reduced-fat (2%) milk
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Spinach- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup finely chopped shallots
- 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 6-ounce packages baby spinach
For the Lasagna- 15 no-boil 7 x 3½-inch lasagna noodles (from two 9-ounce packages)
- 3½ cups fresh ricotta cheese* (28 ounces)
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups coarsely grated Italian Fontina cheese (8 to 9 ounces), divided
- Herb Pesto
For sauce- Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk 1 minute (do not brown). Add milk and wine and whisk until smooth.
- Cook until sauce thickens and comes to boil, whisking constantly, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in Parmesan cheese and salt. Season sauce to taste with pepper.
- DO AHEAD: Sauce can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
For Spinach- Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic. Sauté until shallots soften, about 2 minutes. Add all spinach (pot will be full).
- Cook spinach until wilted but still bright green, tossing often, about 3 minutes. Using tongs, transfer spinach to large sieve set over bowl; reserve pot.
- Press out excess liquid from spinach. Drain 10 to 15 minutes longer. Return drained liquid from spinach to reserved pot. Boil until liquid is reduced to glaze. Return spinach to pot and toss 1 minute. Remove spinach from heat. Mix in 1½ cups sauce. Season spinach to taste with pepper.
For lasagna- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13 x 9 x 2- inch glass baking dish. Mix ricotta, Parmesan, and lemon peel in medium bowl. Season to taste with salt. Mix in egg.
- Spread ½ cup béchamel sauce thinly over bottom of prepared dish. Top with 3 noodles, arranged side by side and covering most of bottom of dish. Spread half of spinach mixture over (about 1½ cups). Sprinkle with ⅓ cup Fontina. Top with 3 noodles and half of ricotta mixture (generous 1¾ cups). Drop half of pesto over by teaspoonfuls, spacing drops evenly apart.
- Continue layering with 3 noodles, remaining spinach mixture, ⅓ cup Fontina, 3 more noodles, remaining ricotta mixture, then remaining pesto. Top with last 3 noodles. Spread remaining sauce over; sprinkle with remaining Fontina. Cover dish with buttered foil.
- Bake lasagna until heated through and bubbling at edges, 50 to 55 minutes. Remove from oven. Remove foil from dish. Preheat broiler. Broil lasagna until top is browned in spots, turning dish occasionally for even browning, about 4 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes to set before serving.
13 Comments
Worknight Dinner Recipe: Summer Spaghetti Primavera
August 5, 2011 at 12:01 pm[…] if you do I won’t believe you) and I realized that I have complicated pasta recipes like spinach, pesto and fontina lasagne and sun-dried tomato risotto, I don’t have the easy-breezy everyday pasta recipes that I […]
Kerstin
July 10, 2010 at 10:38 pmSold 🙂 Looks perfect for company!
mandy
July 8, 2010 at 1:28 pmThis looks and sounds incredibly delicious. It sounds pretty involved (more involved than I am usually up to in the summer, but I’ll definitely file this away for a long winter day.
Sues
July 7, 2010 at 11:20 pmI’m sold!!! Bechamel, yes please!! And it looks beautiful too 🙂
M @ Betty Crapper
July 7, 2010 at 5:36 pmyummy and decadent. Why is there a * by the ricotta?
Paula
July 7, 2010 at 5:24 pmOh wow, that looks amazing!!!
Juliana
July 7, 2010 at 4:26 pmWow, what an interesting lasagna…love the ingredients in it…Fontina cheese…yummie!
Daryl
July 7, 2010 at 2:06 pmyes yes and yes
looks absolutelyb fabulous
DessertForTwo
July 7, 2010 at 9:37 amThis dish sounds amazing, especially the addition of Fontina. I will have to store this recipe for fall!
But I wanted to say that I made your corn dip and everyone LOVED it! My girlfriends especially loved it because it had tofu instead of a fattening sour cream and mayo base! Thanks! 🙂
Joanne
July 7, 2010 at 8:36 amIf there’s one thing I DON’T lack. It’s commitment to good food. And I find washing dishes to be kind of relaxing (I’m weird, I know). And I’ve given up on the whole beach body thing for this year (maybe once I start running again).
So I’m all over this. If I had a new boyfriend. Or inlaws. I’d be serving it to them. Or just hoarding it and eating all of it myself. Either way.
kat
July 7, 2010 at 8:22 amSounds like a great combination but oh its too hot to think about making lasagna right now
DebbieQ
July 7, 2010 at 6:12 amOOOOOOOOO. I just made some pesto yesterday and had a bit that I didn’t freeze. This is what I am going to do with it!
Caz
July 7, 2010 at 2:06 amhehe I have a dishwasher. His name is James.
And we’ve agreed that if he ever gets sick of dish washing, I’ll also conveniently get really sick of cooking for him 🙂
It works