Relatively easy to assemble, cooks fast, and not too exotic for most people. What could be better for a big dinner party?
Based on this recipe from Epicurious. I doubled it and it served 11 with about 1/2 pan left over.
Ingredients
- 3 c. ricotta cheese (I used part skim)
- 2 10-oz. pkgs frozen chopped spinach
- 1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 4-5 T. pesto
- salt and pepper
- 4 c. pasta sauce
- 16 no-boil lasagna noodles
- 2 c. shredded mozzarella
Methodology
- Mix ricotta and Parmesan in the food processor. Thaw and squeeze out the spinach and mix that in. Add pesto, salt, and pepper, tasting as you go. Add the egg.
- Get a 9x13x2 pan and grease it. Spread 1 c. sauce on the bottom and add 4 lasagna noodles (overlap them slightly). Top with a layer of the spinach-ricotta mixture. Repeat (sauce-noodles-spinach) until there are 3 layers of pasta. Finish with a layer of noodles (the 4th) and a layer of sauce.
- Cover with foil. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake for 35 minutes, then take the foil off and top with mozzarella. Let it cook until warm through and cheese is brown, about 15 more minutes.
Notes
- Ours didn’t have as much pesto as I would have liked. But B doesn’t like pesto. So, compromise.
- Ours sat on the counter for about 25 minutes before going in. I could tell the noodles were starting to absorb some of the liquid from the sauce – they looked a little wobbly, you know? I am pretty sure it would be fine if you put it directly into the oven and that it would cook in the same amount of time, but poke it with a knife to make sure.