Spinach ricotta lasagna and Cheesecake crumble

December 22, 2013
Had some relatives over for dinner, so I made a lasagna and a cheesecake.

Lasagne alla spinaci e "ricotta"

The layers are made of alternating Tomato sauce, Tofu ricotta, Lasagna noodles, Spinach, and some Bechamel sauce.

 

I am now going to describe the recipe, step by step for each layer, then the overall layering at the end.

For 4-6 servings

Tofu ricotta:
- 2 blocks of tofu (~600 g)
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp lemon juice

1. Crumble the tofu until it looks like ricotta
2. Mix in the rest of the ingredients

Tomato sauce:
- 2 cans ~400 g peeled tomatoes
- 1-2 carrot
- olive oil
- Italian seasoning
- salt and sugar to taste

1. Dice the carrots while heating the oil in a saucepan.
2. Once the oil is hot, drop in the carrots and stir to prevent sticking. Let them cook a few minutes, then add in the peeled tomatoes.
3. Crush the tomatoes with a wooden spoon while stirring to avoid overly large chungs in the sauce. Be careful, the insides of canned peeled tomatoes have a tendency to squirt their juices!
4. Season to taste

Spinach:
- ~250 g frozen spinach
- Salt and pepper

1. Follow instructions on the package as to how to thaw and cook the spinach. Add some salt and pepper to taste.

Bechamel sauce variante:
Note: I do this more by feel than by actually measuring... It's also a question of preferences, so I suggest Googling a recipe for Bechamel sauce if my instructions aren't sufficient.
- Butter
- Flour
- Milk
- Salt
- Pepper
- Nutmeg > not in the normal recipe

1. Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a saucepan. Arm yourself with a whisk.
2. Add in flour a little at the time to prevent clumping.
3. Add in milk a little at the time, whisking constantly.
4. Season to taste.

LASAGNA RECIPE:
- Tomato sauce
- Spinach
- Tofu ricotta
- Bechamel variante
- Lasagna noodle (I got the type that doesn't require precooking)

1. Grease a pan that goes in the oven with either oil or butter.
2. Lay down a layer of tomato sauce.
3. Cover with lasagna noodles.
4. Add tomato sauce.
5. Then a layer of spinach.
6. And a layer of tofu ricotta, "crumbling" it with your fingers.
7. Ladle on some bechamel.
8. Repeat steps 3-7 until the pan is full (I only managed 2 times).
9. Cover with shredded cheese.
10. Bake in oven for about 30 mins at 180°C.

Enjoy~

Tip: You can mix the spinach and ricotta together and combine steps 5 and 6 into one step.

As a side, I am really proud of that last picture! I'm really happy how it turned out. All with my good-old Canon Powershot SD1200 IS~