Creamy Spinach Lasagne
Oh, I love lasagne. It’s not something I make often but recipe testing this I wondered why it’s been so long. I had bags and bags of spinach after my friend dropped off some shopping for me that I was under pressure to use up before they went soggy (you know what I mean!) The result was this creamy spinach lasagne recipe, creamy cheesy spinach tucked together by soft sheets a pasta, it’s so good it melts in your mouth. I highly recommend this for a leisurely cooking session.
Storage: Similar to regular lasagne it freezes well, I would recommend portioning before freezing. It keeps in the fridge for 3 days.
Serves Serves 6 (20 x 24 pie dish)
Cooks in 45 Minutes
Ingredients
Spinach sauce
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 4 Garlic cloves, peeled and diced
• 250g Spinach leaves, washed
• 300g Cream cheese (I used sheese a vegan cream cheese)
Béchamel sauce
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 4 tbsp Flour
• 750ml Non-dairy Milk or milk
• 4 tbsp Nutritional yeast or shredded Parmesan
• 300g Lasagne sheets (roughly enough for 4 layers in whatever dish you use)
• 100g Shredded Parmesan style cheese (Violife is the vegan version that I used)
Method
Spinach Cream layer
1. In a deep-frying pan add the olive oil and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes, stirring and browning.
2. Add the spinach and cook for 90 seconds until wilted.
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream cheese until it is evenly mixed.
4. Blend this mix, using a handheld blender or food processor into a smooth rich green sauce.
Béchamel sauce
1. In a small-medium saucepan over medium heat add the olive oil and flour, stir into a paste and let cook for 30 seconds.
2. Pour in the milk a little at a time, stirring into a smooth sauce, until all the milk is used.
3. Stir in the nutritional yeast or cheese. Lower to a medium heat and let cook and thicken for a few minutes.
Prepping the lasagne sheets
1. ¾ fill a large saucepan with water.
2. Bring to boil and add the lasagne sheets cooking for 5 minutes until soft (there will still be some bite in them, and they will not be fully cooked through).
3. Remove the sheets and shake off any excess water.
To assemble
• Preheat oven to 200°C
• Add a thin layer of béchamel sauce to the bottom of the pie dish.
• Add one layer of lasagne sheets.
• Then 1/3 of the spinach cream.
• Drizzle over ¼ of the béchamel sauce.
• Add another layer of lasagne sheets.
• Repeat two more layers.
• Add a final layer of béchamel
• Cover in cheese.
• Bake for 40 minutes.