Thursday, January 27, 2011

Lasagna Roll Ups

I'm going to begin my "one new recipe a week" quest again.  Just trying to expand our dinner options a bit.  Last night I made Lasagna roll ups.  I probably looked at twenty different recipes.  Some contained cream cheese (not in my lasagna please), some contained spinach (I didn't think my kids and husband would let me get away with that), some had only white sauce and some had only red sauce, but no one recipe had exactly what I was looking for.  So I combined a bunch of them together and came up with my own.  

Sauce:

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 TBSP  flour
  • 1 1/2 cups milk (I used skim Lactaid)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • pinch of nutmeg
To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 3 minutes Whisk in the milk. Increase the heat to medium-high. Whisk the sauce until it comes to a simmer and is thick and smooth, about 3 minutes. Whisk the salt, pepper, and nutmeg into the bechamel sauce. 

 Lasagna:
  • 1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 2 large eggs
  • 10 uncooked lasagna noodles
  • 2 cups marinara sauce
  • 1 cup shredded mozzerella
  • 1 lb ground beef 
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 TBSP olive oil
  • 1 TBSP basil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat a large pot of water to boiling over high heat.  When it reaches a boil, salt and drop noodles.  Stir occasionally and cook to just al dente.  You want to leave them slightly more firm since you'll be baking the pasta.  Drain noodles and set aside.

Meanwhile in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and onion and saute for 2-3 minutes.  Add beef and brown.  When almost cooked through, add 1/2 cup of tomato sauce and reduce heat to medium low.  Simmer for about 15 minutes.  Add 1/2 the basil and stir to combine.

 In a small bowl, lightly beat egg.  Add ricotta, Parmesan and remaining basil and stir together.  Cover the bottom of the pan with the bechamel sauce.  To assemble, on a drained noodle, add a spoonful of ricotta mixture.  Top with a spoonful of meat sauce and roll up.  Place seam side down in pan.  Continue until you've used all the noodles.  Top each with a little tomato sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella.  Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake 15 more minutes until cheese is bubbly and turns golden.

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