Rustic Spinach and Marinara Lasagna

Before you read this, I want you to know that I believe this is the best dish I have ever made. Like, this lasagna knocked it out of the park and I want to eat the entire pan of lasagna but can't because the fire department would have to cut out a wall of my house and remove me with a crane. This dish is worth every second that it takes to make. I am holding myself back from eating a second piece right now. Oh my heck. It was a lasagna-gasm. Yeah, yeah. I know it's inappropriate. But it's the only way I can do this seductive dinner justice. It is a combination of a few of my favorite family recipes. The flavors are simple and classic, well-balanced and without excess. That is Italian cooking at its finest. It is not about gobs of cheese. It is not about buckets of sauce. Simple balance and classic flavors. This lasagna boasts all of these qualities.

The reason for the creation and consumption of this dish is that there is this other person that lives inside of me. On the outside, I am your typical 28-year-old. I am happily married, pining for a baby, obsessed with my outward appearance, constantly cursing my ever-widening hips. On the inside, there is this tiny but fiesty Italian "cuoca" (cook) that understands that inheriting her grandmother's ancestral thighs doesn't mean she is socially unacceptable and will never be a model, but rather that she is destined to stomp grapes in the Sicilian countryside, and traverse the hills of Tuscany searching for perfect balls of mozzarella. Today, La Cuoca decided to take over and stuff Utah-living Lauren away for a while. And thus, dinner happened. Don't be scared by the fact that I whipped up and rolled my lasagna noodles, or that my sauce slow-simmered for two hours. You can make this too, using as many shortcuts or long-cuts (yes, that's a word), as you choose. And either way,  La Cuoca will be proud of you, and will invite you to stomp some grapes with her and Lucille Ball and all of the other fabulous, fuller-figured ladies throughout history.

In all seriousness, one of the reasons that I love cooking so much is that it makes me feel connected to my ancestors. I know my great-grandmother, Lucia grew up in the hills of Pietraperzia, Sicily, cooking, barefooted and dusted in semolina flour, as did her mother, Calogera, and so many before them. When I am making food, I feel tied to them in a way I cannot describe in words. It is a spiritual thing. And that is beautiful, and is no respecter of calories. And I am sitting here thinking about these amazing women in my family history and their rich culture and heritage, and I feel their influence with me. And that is why I cook.

And now, we best get to discussing the method before La Cuoca devours this delicious lasagna all by herself.


You want to start with a basic marinara sauce. I jazzed mine up a little today, and I will share that recipe with you. I have a basic philosophy about tomato sauce. You cannot go wrong if you combine tomato, basil, garlic , some cheese, and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Seriously. Anybody can make homemade sauce. You will never buy a jar of sauce again. I have purchased sauce in the jar for emergency food storage reasons, but beyond that, I will never be caught dead using it. Whipping up a sauce takes minutes, is so much healthier and a million times more tasty than anything you could get from a jar. I don't care if it is $7 and made by Wolfgang Puck. Your inner cuoca can make a sauce to put that "gourmet" jar to shame. So today, we used the basic marinara method. I'll show you what I did, and you can adapt this based on your own preferences or my included suggestions.

Start with some tomatoes. These can take a few forms. I chose to use some of my preserved garden tomatoes from last fall. Tomatoes that you "put up" yourself have great, garden-fresh flavor that really can't be replicated by a can. I recognize that you may not be a home-canner. That's all good. In that case, I really recommend using Muir Glen crushed tomatoes. They are so much richer than other canned tomatoes. The S&W gigantic can sold at Costco is also a good option. You want at least two 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes. Mine were diced, so I popped four pints of tomatoes in the food processor and blended them a bit (yes, they do have seeds) and kept one quart of them diced. Whatever you end up choosing is fine. Just put them in a large stockpot/saucepan, and put them on the stove to wait for the next step. 

Just leave the tomatoes for a few minutes. They'll be fine chillin' in the pan.

Grab some garlic and a shallot. Shallots are like a cross between garlic and an onion. I love their mild flavor and the mellow taste they add to my cooking. You can definitely leave this out if you want and just go for the garlic. But the shallot makes this sauce shine.

Peel and chop up your shallot. It doesn't have to be minced, just dice it up.

Heat about two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in a large skillet. Add the chopped shallot and three cloves of grated or minced garlic to the oil and cook 30 seconds-1 minute until they are fragrant. Remove from the heat.

Add the garlic and shallot to the tomatoes. Mix them well.

Add a good amount of dried basil. Fresh would work here too, but I haven't started my herb garden yet and hate paying the absurd prices for a small package of fresh basil in the store. I used what was left in my jar...probably close to a tablespoon. I love basil. Reduce this if you do not. Also add about a teaspoon of sea salt and a teaspoon of sugar (it cuts the acidity in the tomatoes). Mix well.

Cover the pan and cook the sauce over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. It will splatter, so keep it covered, stir quickly, and wear junky clothes. After the initial fifteen minutes you want to add some cheese. I threw in about 1/4 cup of freshly grated part-skim mozzarella (no picture, sorry!) and a 1/4 cup of ricotta cheese. Mix well. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce for at least 20 minutes to really let the flavors infuse. With my sauce, I let it simmer for almost an hour and a half. It's ok-you don't have to do this. If you have the time, go ahead. Just stir it often. Taste it and adjust the seasonings if needed. My home-canned tomatoes had a lot of excess water and I really wanted to reduce the sauce down and thicken it. The tomatoes also had an orangey color to them after cooking, but I love that! Cooking for a long time definitely helped that. I like to slow-cook my sauces, but a quick sauce can be equally as tasty. You really only need about 35 minutes to make a great sauce. You can also take all of these ingredients, pop them uncooked in the slow cooker, set it on low, and let it go all day.  When your sauce is done, set it aside until you are ready to assemble your lasagna. 

I mentioned earlier that I made my own lasagna noodles. It is pretty simple, but best done with a hand-crank pasta machine. I wrote an earlier post on making your own pasta, and you can read it here to get the recipe (it is the same) and the method. The only difference is not cutting the sheets into fettuccine. Just roll them out, all the way through the highest setting on your pasta machine, and cut them into three sheets per length of rolled out pasta. Stack them on racks while you are rolling them out so they don't stick together. It probably takes about 40 minutes from start to finish for the pasta. I believe it is totally worth it.

Alternately, you can use pre-bought fresh pasta (try to get it from an Italian market where they make it in-house), or your regular boxed lasagna sheets. I have used the no-cook noodles with good success in the past. Just be sure to use the extra sauce they recommend to ensure the noodles have enough moisture to cook. You can also use the noodles you have to boil. All of these options will be delicious.

I do believe fresh pasta has a special taste and texture, and makes this lasagna really special. If you are adventurous, give it a shot!

If you do use fresh pasta, bring a large stockpot of water to a boil, and when it is boiling, season with a tablespoon of salt. Cook the noodles for about 30 seconds, in batches of 10 at a time. Use a spaghetti scooper/pasta claw to scoop the noodles out and dunk them in a bowl of cold water that has been infused with a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil. Then lay them on a clean kitchen towel. Do this until all of your noodles have been cooked. They will stick together, but the oil makes them easy to peel apart.

At this point, you'll want to preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Now, on to your filling. Heat a skillet and drizzle in about a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil. Add two cloves of minced or grated garlic. Add three cups of fresh chopped baby spinach (you should chop this first, not after, like I did). Saute for about 1 minute until tender. Remove from heat.

Mix the spinach with about 2 cups of ricotta cheese. I have yet to make my own at home, but if I have to get it at the supermarket and not from a yummy Italian market, I don't mind the Miceli's Traditional brand. I also go full-fat on this. So sue me. It's La Cuoca's fault. 

Also add about 1 cup of freshly shredded mozzarella. The kind from the bag is usually coated with stuff to keep the cheese from sticking, and is kind of gross. It's also more expensive per pound to buy it shredded. So grab a block of the higher-quality Tillamook or Cache Valley or some other yumminess. Because cheese is heaven on earth. I just grate mine with my shredding disc on my food processor, but feel free to enlist children and spouses as slave labor to hand-grate this. Also add a tiny bit, a dash, I would say, of nutmeg. Maybe a 1/4 teaspoon. It's the secret to an amazing white sauce and lasagna filling. A lot of fillings call for eggs to bind it together. You really don't need it here. The layers are very thin and don't need the stability.

Mix it. Mix it good.

You are ready to build your masterpiece. Food is art. La Cuoca says so. Spread a thin layer of sauce across the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. I used about two scoops with a large serving spoon. It doesn't have to be even or perfect. This is rustic, which is cover for messy. Be as messy as you want.

Layer enough noodles to cover the sauce. This is also an imperfect process. I cut some sheets to cover the areas that needed it. If you hand cut your noodles, it will look like a patchwork lasagna, which is awesome and rustic and very barefoot in the Sicilian hills. 

Spread a very thin layer of the ricotta and spinach mixture on the noodles. I used about 1/4 cup per layer. Some sauce will seep through. Not all of the noodles will be covered. Don't worry one bit. That's fine. 

Continue layering until you have layered all of your noodles and filling. I had enough noodles and filling for six layers.

After you have layered your last few sheets of pasta, spread another thin layer of sauce on top. The noodles will absorb most of the sauce.

Sprinkle another cup or so of freshly grated mozzarella on the top of the noodles and sauce. Sprinkle some freshly grated parmesan on top too if you would like.  Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the top is slightly browned and the edges are crispy. Everyone knows the crispy edge pieces are the best pieces of all. Mmmmmmmmm.....

Allow the lasagna to rest and set for 10 minutes. Cut large squares and serve. This would be great with a spinach salad and some garlic bread, or all but itself, like we ate it. Prepare yourself. Your world is about to be rocked. Now I'm going out back to stomp some grapes. Looks like La Cuoca is here to stay.

Rustic Spinach and Marinara Lasagna


Ingredients


Sauce
-Two 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes (I recommend Muir Glen organic crushed tomatoes, or home-preserved tomatoes)
-1 large shallot, finely chopped
-3 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
-2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
-1 tablespoon of dried basil
-1 teaspoon of sea salt
-1 teaspoon of sugar
-1/4 cup of freshly grated part-skim mozzarella
-1/4 cup of whole-milk ricotta

Pasta (see link to tutorial and recipe here)
-2 cups of all purpose flour
-3 eggs, beaten
*substituting pre-made fresh pasta or dried pasta works fine here

Filling
-3 cups of baby spinach
-2 cloves of minced or grated garlic
-2 cups of whole-milk ricotta
-1 cup of freshly grated mozzarella, plus an additional cup for topping
-1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
-Two tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan (optional, for topping)


Directions

Sauce

1. Place crushed tomatoes in a large stock pot. In a separate skillet, saute one large shopped shallot and three cloves of minced garlic in two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, about one minute, until fragrant. Combine with crushed tomatoes. Add one tablespoon of dried basil, one teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of sugar. Mix well. Cook on medium, covered, for 15 minutes. Stir frequently.
2. Reduce heat to low, add 1/4 cup of freshly grated mozzarella and 1/4 cup of whole milk mozzarella. Stir to combine. Continue cooking for another 20 minutes to 90 minutes, stirring frequently. Allow the flavors to meld together.
3. Remove from heat and set aside until you are ready to assemble your lasagna.

Pasta

(If you use fresh, pre-made pasta or boxed pasta, cook according to directions)
1. Follow fresh pasta tutorial here, but stop as soon as your pasta sheets have been rolled out to the thinnest setting on your pasta machine.
2. Cut sheets of pasta into thirds, about eight inches in length. Lay flat on racks or clean kitchen towels on counter (do not stack directly on top of each other) until ready to cook.
3. Bring a stockpot of water to a boil. Add one tablespoon of salt to the boiling water. Add the noodles, 10 at a time. and boil for 30 seconds, until the noodles float. Remove with a pasta claw and shock the noodles in a bowl filled with cold water and a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil. Remove and place on a clean kitchen towel. They can be touching, but will have to be gently peeled apart. Set aside until ready to assemble lasagna.

Filling

1. Saute 3 cups of chopped baby spinach with two cloves of minced or grated garlic in a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil for 1 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Mix spinach with two cups of whole milk ricotta, one cup of freshly shredded mozzarella and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spread a thin layer of sauce across the bottom of a glass 9 x 13 pan. Layer sheets of pasta over the sauce until the sauce is covered. Spread a thin layer (about 1/4 cup) of the ricotta and spinach mixture over the noodles. Cover with a thin layer of the marinara sauce. Continue layering sheets of pasta, and thin layers of the ricotta and spinach mixture and the marinara sauce until all of the filling and pasta is gone. You should get 5-6 layers.
3. When your last layer is complete, top the noodles with a thin layer of sauce (it will be absorbed by the noodles) and an additional cup of freshly grated mozzarella, and some freshly grated parmesan, if desired.
4. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the top is slightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Cut large squares and serve with a crisp salad.