Cheese and Spinach Lasagna

I know it can often be intimidating to prepare a meal on Thanksgiving or Christmas for family & friends. There is a lot of pressure to come up with a menu which will be appreciated by the guests while also not being too much of a hassle to cook and serve. When it comes to me, I love making the complete holiday dinner for my family and friends every year which includes all the usual suspects such as Green bean casserole, Mashed potatoes, Stuffing, Apple pie, Pumpkin pie, Tomato and pumpkin soup, Grilled asparagus, Roasted root vegetables and Cranberry sauce. As the holiday season is around the corner, I share with you my recipes for a traditional American holiday meal. Today in Part 5 of my Holiday Celebration series, I give you a simple recipe for ‘Cheese & Spinach Lasagna’ which is sure to be a hit with the crowd. Happy Holidays!!

Cheese & Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients
2 Tbsp – Unsalted butter
1 cup shredded – Mozzarella cheese
4 cups – Ricotta cheese
350 gms chopped – Button mushrooms
½ cup grated – Parmesan cheese
¾ cup thinly sliced – Red onions
250 gms – No boil lasagna noodles
500 gms finely chopped – Spinach
2 cups – Heavy cream
1 tsp – Red chilli flakes
½ tsp – Ground nutmeg
1 cup – Water
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
   2. Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.
   3. Add the mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid and soften, about 5 minutes.
   4. Add the spinach and cook until it is soft and mushy, about 7-10 minutes.
   5. Add ½ tsp salt & pinch of pepper to spinach mixture and mix well and set aside.
   6. Break the lasagna noodle into 3 inch pieces
   7. Combine the lasagna noodle pieces with 1 cup water in a large bowl and stir with a rubber spatula.
   8. Add the heavy cream and stir to evenly coat all lasagna noodle pieces.
   9. Add the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, nutmeg powder, red chilli flakes and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the spinach mixture and stir to combine.
   10. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish (with butter or oil)
   11. Pour this mixture into the 9-by-13-inch baking dish and cover on top with the shredded mozzarella
   12. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes.
   13. Remove the foil and cook until the lasagna is bubbly and slightly browned on top, 15 to 20 minutes.
   14. Cool for 30 minutes and serve with salad, bread rolls, and soup

TIPS:

1. In place of spinach you can do Kale or a mix of mustard greens and spinach
2. If you wish you could add tofu as well to the mixture. You will need to cook it with the mushrooms in order to get it a little soft and absorb the flavor
3. If you don’t want to use all the different kinds of cheeses you can use just one kind or if you wish you can add more varieties of cheese to the mix as well