Ditalini’s Lasagne Rolls
This is Ditalini’s adaptation of a Giada De Laurentiis Food Channel recipe. The original recipe called for mixing chopped prosciutto in with the ricotta/spinach mixture, but since Ditalini uses Italian meat sauce rather than meatless marinara sauce, she skips the prosciutto.
We usually have a few containers of Italian meat sauce in the freezer, so we don’t need to make a fresh pot for recipes like this.
Ditalini's Lasagne Rolls
Bechamel Sauce
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 tsp flour
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- pinch ground nutmeg
Lasagne
- ricotta cheese
- 1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained
- 1 egg
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- salt & pepper to taste
- 12 lasagna noodles
- 2 cups Italian meat sauce
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions
Sauce:
Melt butter in saucepan over low heat, add flour, whisk. Add milk, whisk. Increase heat to medium, continue whisking sauce until it thickens, then whisk in salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Whew, enough whisking already!
Lasagne:
Brush the inside of a baking dish with butter or olive oil. Pour the bechamel sauce into the bottom of the dish.
Make a mixture of the ricotta, spinach, Parmesan, egg, salt & pepper. Boil noodles until al dente; drain.
Spread ricotta/spinach mixture on noodles. Roll each noodle, then place in baking dish, seam side down. Space them out so that they don’t quite touch each other. Spoon meat sauce over the rolls, then cover with shredded mozzarella and grated Parmesan.
Cover with foil and bake in preheated 450° oven for 20 minutes, until sauce bubbles. Uncover and bake another minute or two, until the cheese on top is golden. Remove and let stand a few minutes. Serve with extra Italian meat sauce on the side.
