All the Crispy Edges Lasagne
After making countless lasagnes over the years, I started making this riff on a Giada deLaurentis recipe and I’m never going back. It takes all the best parts of lasagne and dials them up. I mostly follow her recipe, but of course I’ve taken some shortcuts and made some swaps. Giada has you cooking down fresh spinach, waiting for it to cool, squeezing out the moisture, chopping it up and adding it to the ricotta. You could skip the spinach altogether or use about 5oz thawed, frozen and thoroughly wrung out spinach instead. Giada also has you cooking sausage, which works great and adds so much flavor, but this is also great left vegetarian, or if you happen to have some leftover meatballs in the fridge you can just cut those up into the sauce, or add some sautéed ground beef or turkey. It all works. Also, it looks like a lot of steps written out, but honestly after you make it once, you’ll be able to wing it.
Recipe
Yield: 4-5 servings
3-4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the pasta water
1lb lasagne noodles, broken into rough pieces (or really any shape noodle works)
1 5oz box fresh spinach, or half a 10oz package frozen spinach, thawed
1 cup ricotta cheese
1lb Italian sausage, casings removed (or ground beef or turkey)
4 cups (one 32oz jar) good tomato sauce (I like Rao’s)
1 garlic clove
2 ½ cups shredded mozzarella, divided
1 ½ cups grated parmesan cheese, divided
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425. Line a 12-inch by 17-inch baking sheet with foil and lightly oil it, using one tablespoon of olive oil.
Fill a large pot with water and set it to boil. Heat your largest skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil. If using fresh spinach, saute until wilted, transfer to a colander and set aside until cool enough to handle.
In a medium bowl, add the ricotta and the ½ teaspoon of salt. Whether you’re using fresh or frozen spinach, wring out as much moisture as possible and then if using fresh, finely chop it and add it to the ricotta. Set aside.
If cooking sausage or ground meat, wipe out the same skillet with a paper towel, add another tablespoon of oil and cook the meat until cooked through. Turn off the heat, add the sauce, grate in one clove of garlic, and add 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and ½ cup of parmesan cheese.
If you’re not cooking sausage, but instead keeping your dish meat free or using leftover meatballs like I did, empty your sauce into a large bowl, add the chopped up meatballs (or not), grate in one clove of garlic, and add 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and ½ cup of parmesan cheese.
When your water is boiling, salt it generously and add the noodles. Cook for 4 minutes. When the pasta is done, add ½ cup pasta water to the sauce mixture.
Drain your noodles and add them to the sauce as well. Toss everything together then dump it onto your sheet pan, spreading it out so it fills the pan.
Dollop on the ricotta mixture, and then sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over all.
Bake until the pasta is tender, the cheese is golden brown, and all those ruffly edges are crisp, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and serve.
