Baked Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo

This was a fun dish to make and I made it before I really learned to cook. It seemed a little complicated then but I’ll try it again soon and see how I feel. The creamy-ness of ricotta combined with tomato never gets old.

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Serving Size: 6 servings

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Baked Spinach and Ricotta Rotolo

Fun.

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 1 H & 5 M

Ingredients

For the Pasta

• 8 fresh lasagna sheets
• 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

For the Filling

• 8 ounces frozen spinach, pre-chopped
• 1 pound Ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Black pepper, to taste

For the Tomato Sauce

• 24 ounces passata (pureed tomatoes)
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Handful of basil leaves (optional)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Black pepper, to taste

Instructions

For the Tomato Sauce

1. Heat oil in a 9" ovenproof pan over medium high heat.
2. Add garlic and sauté for 10 seconds, then add onion.
3. Cook onion until translucent and starting to turn golden, then add the remaining Tomato Sauce ingredients.
4. Simmer for 2 minutes to bring the flavors together, then remove from heat.
5. Scoop out 1 cup of the Tomato Sauce which will be used to drizzle over the dish at the end.

For the Filling

1. Defrost the spinach in the microwave on high for 2 minutes.
2. Squeeze the excess water out of the spinach using your hands, then place in a large bowl.
3. Add remaining Filling ingredients and mix well to combine. I find it easiest (fastest) to do this with my hands.

For the Assembly & Cooking

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. As per the photo, lay out the lasagna sheet with the shorter end in front of you. The reason is that you want to roll these up so they are fatter than cannelloni.
3. Place 1/3 cup (packed) of filling onto the lasagna sheet. Dab some water on the end furthest away from you (to seal the roll), then roll up starting from the end closest to you. Finish with the seal down.
4. Continue with remaining lasagna sheets.
5. Cut rolls into 3 (so each piece is 1.5" wide).
6. Place the rolls into the Tomato Sauce with the filling facing up.
7. Drizzle the reserved Tomato Sauce over the Rotolo, then bake for 20 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and scatter the mozzarella over. Return to oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and golden.
9. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

• Don't worry if your lasagna sheets are not exactly the same size, so long as they are the right size for rolling up (or cute to size) you can use any size you want.
• Passata is pureed tomato, thinner than tomato paste and smoother than crushed tomatoes.  You can substitute with crushed tomatoes but you will need to and about 1/3 cup of water when simmering the sauce otherwise it will dry out too much when baking.
• You can substitute the frozen with fresh spinach if you want.  You will need 7 ounces of fresh spinach.  Add it raw to the filling mixture, but before doing so you will need to squeeze it (a handful at a time) to get the excess liquid out, otherwise your filling will be watery.
• Tomato passata is just pureed canned tomatoes.  Nowadays it is readily available in supermarkets, usually alongside pasta sauces.  It costs just a tiny bit more, sometimes the same, as canned tomatoes.  If you can't find it, puree canned tomatoes or use crushed canned tomatoes.
• To make ahead, this is best frozen before baking.  Assemble the dish but do not put the cheese on (because if you bake it the whole time with the cheese, the cheese will burn), freeze in an airtight container, then defrost completely before baking (follow the recipe instructions).  You will probably need to add 5 minutes to the baking time.

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