I am a devoted carnivore 🙂 but funnily enough I prefer my lasana meatless. I make both the meat and vegetarian versions but my preference goes firmly for the latter. Spinach, cottage cheese and tender noodles provide for a very tasty combo. If you are into that make this tummy-filling and absolutely enjoyable, from the first bite to end, lazana recipe. I bought no-boil noodles but I did blanch them for 2-3 minutes in salted boiling water because my boys prefer them very tender. Add 3-4 noodles in the boiling water and take them out with a slotted spoon. I do not rinse the noodles with cold water, instead I line them in a plate and use as I alternate noodles/filling layers.
Ingredients:
500 g (1 package) lazana noodles
250 g cottage cheese
500 g spinach
1 onion and two cloves of garlic
500 g (1 package) tomato sauce passata
150 g parmesan (yellow cheese will also do)
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and more for drizzling
Freshly ground pepper
3-4 leaves of fresh basil
Salt to taste
Preheat the oven to 200 C. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and sauté the onion, add the finely chopped garlic and cook just for a few seconds. Add the washed and chopped spinach and wilt until there is little liquid left. Season with salt and set the pan aside. Season the cottage cheese with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add 3-4 lazana noodles. The pasta just needs to become flexible, about 2-3 minutes. Assembling your lazana goes simultaneously with boiling the noodles. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the baking dish, add some finely chopped basil and top with a layer of noodles.
Top the noodles with half of the spinach and cheese mixtures.
Drizzle with 5-6 tablespoons of tomato sauce and top with the next layer of noodles. Repeat with the other half of cheese/spinach mixtures, tomato sauce and top with the last layer of cooked noodles. Add the remaining tomato sauce and drizzle on some olive oil and 5-6 spoons of the water where the noodles cooked. Top with parmesan and cover with aluminium foil. Bake for about an hour and 15 minutes , removing the foil for the last 15 minutes to brown the top. Allow the baked lazana to sit for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Rolling pin 