Receta Sausage and Spinach Lasagne, winter wins
When I fist started cooking, lasagne was a lot of messy work.
The noodles had to be boiled and drained in addition to the fillings being made.Then it had to be assembled with the wet, slippery noodles.
As I became more interested in cooking, making lasagne was even more work: I made the noodles, too
And then there were ‘no-cook’ noodles. They may not be the best, most ‘gourmet’ choice, but they are easy.
This is a hearty lasagne, with fresh spinach, sausage and a bit of green pepper.
Sausage and Spinach Lasagne
Total time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
12 – 16 sheets ‘no-cook’ lasagna noodles
- 10oz (300gr) sausages, any flavor
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 onion
- 1 small green bell pepper
- 2 cloves garlic
- 15oz (450gr) whole tomatoes
- 1 cup (8oz, 240ml) tomato sauce
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 7oz (210gr) fresh spinach
- 2 tbs butter
- 2 tbs flour
- 1 1/2 cups milk, 12oz, (360ml)
- 1 cup (4oz, 120gr) shredded Gruyere cheese
Instructions:
Meat Sauce:
Finely chop onion, pepper and garlic.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, pepper, garlic and sauté for 10 minutes or until tender.
Slice sausages as thinly as possible (less than 1/2″, 1cm) and add to skillet. Sauté until cooked through.
Drain whole tomatoes, reserving sauce, and roughly chop.
Add to skillet along with tomato sauce, reserved sauce and herbs.
Cover, reduce heat and let simmer until needed.
Béchamel sauce:
In a medium saucepan heat the butter over low heat.
Add flour and stir with a whisk for 1 minute.
Add a little (1/4 cup) of the milk and whisk to combine.
Turn heat up to medium-high and keep adding milk, a little at a time and whisking. You should have added all of the milk in a minute or 2.
When all of the milk is in bring to a boil (should almost be there), whisking. Then remove from heat.
Spinach:
Remove any tough stems from the spinach and wash. Drain well.
Cut any huge leaves.
To assemble:
in an square, 10 X 10 (25 X 25cm) or oblong baking dish, 8 X 10, (20 X 25cm) or so… make the following layers:
1/2 béchamel sauce
3 – 4 lasagne noodles, I have to break one up to get good coverage
1/3 meat sauce
3 – 4 lasagne noodles
1/2 béchamel sauce
1/2 of the cheese
3 – 4 lasagne noodles
all of the spinach
1/3 meat sauce
3 – 4 lasagne noodles
1/3 meat sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Cover and bake 400F (200C) for 20 – 25 minutes, or until noodles are tender. Test in center with a sharp knife.
Uncover and bake 5 minutes longer to brown cheese.
Remove and let rest for 5 minutes. Cut into squares (or oblongs) and serve.
Earlier this week we had 3 days of warm sunshine. The mud started to dry up, I did some work in my herb garden and mon mari did a little bit of lawn-mowing in the dry spots. Our grass is getting so long in places it’s going to have to be cut with the big weed cutter. Neither mower will get through it.
I took some photos of the flowers…. Below are plum blossoms.
These are the Japanese quince. I was worried that the fruits were blossoming so early there would be no bees around to pollinate and we wouldn’t have fruit.
When I was taking the photos, all of the flowers were buzzing and alive with bees. As long as we don’t have a late frost we should have a good fruit harvest.
These are just weeds – they drive me crazy in summer, but are pretty as the first flowers of spring.
Yesterday it started raining again.
Last night we had thunderstorms.
Today we’ve had high winds followed by sleet, hail and torrential rains. Then the winds calmed, the sky cleared, the sun came out and it was beautiful.
An hour later it was all repeated.
And an hour after that. Off and on all day.
Every time the wind comes up in blows the smoke back down the chimney into the house.
We now have more standing water and more mud than we’ve had all year. The dogs are filthier than they have ever been in their short lives.
Enjoy the flowers…..
Last Updated on February 28, 2014