The best advice for prolonging your youthful good looks: eat your veggies!
Make this all-green spinach and ricotta lasagne or incorporate more green into your meat-sauce lasagne by adding three spinach layers and keeping the other two filled with bolognaise. Making your own lasagne means you’re more able to control the ingredients and therefore, keep your kilojoule intake lower than it would be with store-bought varieties packed with extra salt, sugar and fats.
Remember: a good lasagne doesn’t go slip-sliding away but stands upright on your plate.
Spinach And Ricotta Lasagne Recipe
For the spinach and ricotta lasagne filling
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 300g chard, washed, cored and sliced
- 150g baby spinach leaves
- 50g herbs (we used flatleaf parsley, winter savoury, one stick rosemary, sage, thyme and sweet rocket)
- 150g ricotta
- 1 tsp grated lemon zest
- Freshly ground nutmeg
- Sea salt flakes and freshly ground pepper
READ MORE: 2 Delicious, Nutritious Side Dishes That Work With Almost Any Meal
For the béchamel
- 30g butter or plant-based margarine
- 30g flour
- 450ml low-fat milk, warmed
- 24.5cm x 17cm lasagne dish
READ MORE: 10 Healthy Summer Recipes You Can Make In Under 20 Minutes
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, add all the greens and cook for a few minutes, tossing constantly, until bright green and wilted. Place in a colander and use a bowl to press down on the greens and squeeze out every bit of liquid. Process in a food processor until smooth, seasoning with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Combine with the ricotta and lemon zest and set aside.
- In a small pot over medium heat, melt the butter until foaming, add the flour and cook, stirring until it smells biscuity. Gradually whisk in the milk until smooth. Bring to a boil, simmer for two minutes and season.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, cook the lasagne sheets for one minute and set aside on a plate lined with a tea towel. To assemble the lasagne, spread two tablespoons of bechamel over the base of a 24.5cm x 17cm lasagne dish and cover it with two lasagne sheets (you’ll have to cut them to fit). Spread two to three forkfuls of the spinach mixture over the lasagne sheets and then drizzle over two tablespoons of béchamel. Continue until you have five layers, finishing with a layer of spinach drizzled with four tablespoons of béchamel.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes. Cut into squares and serve with a drizzle of your finest extra-virgin olive oil.
READ MORE: You’ve Got To Try These Super Simple Summer Rolls With Asian-Style Sauce
Source: https://www.womenshealthsa.co.za/food-and-nutrition/feed/
