Dinner tonight: Spinach lasagna

Here is what my spinach looked like growing in the garden on Sunday:

And here is what it looked like after being washed, chopped, sauteed with a little garlic and olive oil, and layered with noodles, tomato sauce and cheese:


The sauce is a simple tomato-garlic sauce that I made late last summer using plum tomatoes from the CSA farm and stored in the freezer. I made LOTS of tomato sauce last summer- some plain, some flavored with garlic, some flavored with chiles to use on enchiladas. I froze some in 1-cup portions (perfect for homemade pizza) and some in larger portions. All that sauce is nearly gone now; the freezer is mostly cleared out and awaiting this year's harvest.

Because the sauce was thin compared to a commercial jarred sauce, I only parboiled the noodles. I sauteed the spinach and some garlic in olive oil, stirred it into ricotta cheese along with a beaten egg, a dash of freshly grated nutmeg and some salt and pepper. Then I got busy layering: a little sauce, a layer of noodles, spinach mixture, a handful of shredded mozzarella. And again: sauce, noodles, spinach mixture, cheese. A little more sauce, one more layer of noodles, more sauce and a generous amount of mozzarella on top. Cover with foil, bake a while, uncover and sprinkle on some grated parmesan. (Note- people sometimes quibble about "parmesan" vs. "parmigiano-reggiano." I am a fan of the authentic stuff, but the food budget currently calls for a good domestic version. Hence, parmesan.)

We rounded out the meal with roasted local asparagus and some garlic bread sticks. My toddler's review of the lasagna was "It's yucky," but I beg to differ. I thought it was quite good.

Spinach Lasagna