Recipe - Spinach Lasagna

Well, Hally and Jon had their baby (sweet Clara) about three weeks ago, and since her mom has been here, I had yet to go over to say hello and congratulations. We made plans for Friday and Caitlin and I decided to make dinner to take over. She made a great salad with endive, cucumber, fennel, and celery (I need that recipe!) and also brought an angel food cake with some yummy berries.

I made a chicken and spinach lasagna and Barefoot Contessa's Garlic Ciabatta.

First - the lasagana. I started with this recipe and made some (okay, a lot!) of edits.



First, I added another cup of ricotta and another package of frozen spinach, then mixed it all together so that I'd have more for my layers. I also just used a package of six small chicken breasts, seasoned them with italian seasoning and sauteed them on the stove.

I made the white sauce - but once it was made, I was worried that it was way too thick and heavy - the we needed some acidity to lighten things up.

So, I pulled out my trusty Pioneer Woman cookbook and made the sauce from Penne ala Betsy (but with only half the cream).




Once I had all my components together, I began to layer the lasagna. White sauce, noodles, ricotta/spinach mixture, chicken, noodles, red sauce, ricotta/spinach mixture, chicken, noodles, both white and red sauce (kind of mixed them together), and then topped with mozzerella and parmesan cheese.



I baked it a little longer than it said and put the broiler on for the last few minutes so that the cheese got a bit crispy. All told, a great dish - especially with a little left over red sauce to top it off if needed. Everyone really enjoyed it and encouraged me to add it to my list of things I make regularly.



The bread was, as always, excellent. I don't have a final picture (sorry), but trust me that it was truly yummy.