Try these lasagna roll ups so everyone can have their own gorgeous piece. Fill the pasta with a spinach and ricotta blend. You can use store bought lasagna noodles, but homemade is really so great.
Pasta Roulade with Ricotta and Spinach
Servings
Ingredients
- Fresh Pasta
- 2 pound of spinach or a bag of chopped, frozen spinach
- 1 pound ricotta cheese regular, do not use fat-free!
- salt and peper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 5 teaspoon grated Parmigiano cheese grated, not shredded
- 1 whole egg slightly beaten
- 1/2 cup raisins plumped in hot water and drained (optional)
Instructions
- Make fresh pasta (see recipe).
- Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, put two pounds of spinach in a pot with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 whole cloves of garlic. Salt and sprinkle with very little water.
- Cook covered for about 5 minutes, then uncovered till soft and till most water has absorbed (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally.
- Once the spinach has cooled a little, drain it in a colander (you can line the colander with a cheesecloth if the holes are too wide), and squeeze most of the liquid out.
- Chop the spinach (unless it was already chopped), and mix it with the ricotta cheese, the egg, salt, spices and parmigiano. If you like a sweet touch, add the raisins and pine nuts. Set aside.
- Roll the pasta out into a thin sheet and cut a rectangle of at least 10’ x 20” or preferably more.
- Lay the pasta sheet over a cheesecloth. Spread the spinach and ricotta mixture over the pasta sheet and roll up tightly. Wrap the roll in the cheesecloth and tie it with twine at both ends, like a big piece of candy.
- Boil it for 35 minutes in salted water, drain and slice.
- Arrange in one layer in a baking tray, dress with sage butter (butter melted with sage leaves till golden) or a tomato sauce, and extra grated parmigiano.
- Quick trick: If you just can’t imagine making the pasta from scratch (it is worth it) then you can cook dried Barilla or De Cecco lasagna noodles in salted boiling water for 5 minutes, making sure they don’t break. Stop cooking by adding cold water and drain. Lay noodles on paper towel. Stuff with filling and roll up. Put in baking pan with either marinara sauce or sage butter on the bottom and on top. Sprinkle with Parmigiano and bake at 400 F for 40 minutes (no convection or they will dry out). Slice AFTER baking with a sharp knife. Can be reheated.
- Photo Courtesy of PH. Fuoco Variabile – Milano, Italy.
Is the picture of the recipe – it looks to have a soy meat in or the like?
Yes, you need to find the regular lasagna that needs to be boiled. It’s even better if you use fresh pasta. If you own a kitchen aid you can buy the pasta attachment and the whole thing is brainless, it does everything for you! In some gourmet stores you can also buy fresh uncooked lasagna noodles. I think I saw them at Pomegranate in Brooklyn. And yes you can also just use the filling to stuff manicotti or layered lasagna
Make a couple of sticks, some people use more and some like less
Either works!
Up to you! Some people use more butter and some like less. 2 sticks?
Hi! So excited to make this. If I would like to make this in advance and freeze before do you recommend freezing it unbaked or baked? thanks!
I’m making this again. As I said, I’m a novice…but improving! The last time I made this, I used marinara sauce. I’d love to make sage butter, but have no idea as to how much butter to melt!!! 1/2 pound? Please let me know. I’m so excited about making this again!!!
I am a novice cook! This recipe sounded delicious so I decided to try it. My only problem was that I decided to buy the pasta. Following the recipe, I found Barilla pasta at my market. They had 2 types of lasagna pasta. Not really thinking it through, I bought the oven-ready pasta. Big mistake! You can’t roll it. I ended up making a delicious lasagna using this recipe! It wasn’t as pretty as the pasta roulade, but it was delicious!
Very elegant – so creative
It’s delicious with or without the raisins, Ahuva!
i love almost every aspect of this recipe but im wondering how it would be without the raisins?
This is my favorite!
Beautiful dish – can’t wait to try it. I think I’ve made pasta only once in my life and it was a long time ago. This one is calling to me though. thanks