Spinach and Ricotta Lasagne
Kids are strange. You spend your whole life trying to feed them nutritious food and, sometimes, you succeed. Other times it doesn’t quite work out as planned. But it’s good to take the wins when you get them and this spinach and ricotta lasagne is a verifiable win.
Ever since she was very, very small, it’s been the Small Girl’s absolute favourite dinner. It has its own family name – d’asagne – to differentiate it from regular lasagne after an incident when she was very unimpressed to discover that there was a meat version when my sister made that for dinner. D’asagne is the meal that she wants for every birthday but, because it’s so very easy, there’s no need to wait until a special occasion in order to make it.
It’s a very good humoured dish: I’ve made it with soft goat’s cheese instead of ricotta; with all kinds of shredded greens instead of – or with – the spinach (nettles and chard have all had their own time tucked in amidst the layers of pasta); using regular, wholemeal or gluten-free lasagne sheets; and using many different chutneys in the tomato sauce.
Spinach and ricotta lasagne
Serves 4.
250g baby leaf spinach
250g ricotta
150g natural or greek yoghurt
50g mature cheddar, grated, plus extra for sprinkling
Zest of a lemon
700g tomato passata
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato chutney
A pinch of sugar (optional)
9 sheets of dried lasagne
125g ball of mozzarella
Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200C and butter or oil the sides of a deep ovenproof dish, about 23 x 23 x 6 cm.
Roughly chop the spinach and mix in a large bowl with the ricotta, yoghurt, grated cheddar and lemon zest. Taste and season.
Put the passata, vinegar and chutney into a deep bowl and whisk together or, using a handheld blender, whizz together. Taste and season, adding a pinch of sugar if needed.
Put a couple of spoons of the tomato sauce on the base of your cooking dish and spread it around. Place three sheets of lasagne on top, dollop with half of the spinach-ricotta mixture. Repeat with another three sheets of lasagne, the rest of the spinach-ricotta, and then the final three sheets of lasagne. Pour the tomato sauce over the top.
Sprinkle with extra grated cheddar, tear up the ball of mozzarella and scatter across the top.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden on top and the pasta is tender to the point of a knife.
