Frank's Recipes! Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna with Pine Nuts

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Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna with Pine Nuts

This recipe serves 4-6

For the sauce:
1 1/2 UK pints (30 fl oz)/850 ml milk
2oz/50g butter
2oz/50g flour
1 bay leaf
2 1/2oz/60g freshly grated Parmesan cheese

For the lasagna:
12 lasagna sheets (see note)
1 lb 5 oz/600g young leaf spinach
8oz/225g Ricotta cheese
2oz/50g pine nuts (pine kernels)
knob of butter
1/4 whole nutmeg, grated
7 oz/200g Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
7 oz/200g Mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated

Butter an ovenproof dish, about 9x9in (23x23cm), 2.5in/6cm deep. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/350 F/180 C. Place the ingredients for the sauce, except the Parmesan in a saucepan and season well with salt and pepper. Whisk together continually over a medium heat until it comes to simmering point and has thickened. Turn the heat down to the lowest possible setting and cook gently for 5 minutes. Stir in about 2 oz of the Parmesan, then remove from the heat, discard the bay leaf and cover with plastic wrap to prevent the sauce from forming a skin.

Remove and discard the spinach stalks then rinse the spinach thoroughly to remove any sand and spin or shake dry. Place the knob of butter in your largest saucepan, pile in the spinach, sprinkling with a little salt as you go. Place the pan over a medium heat, cover and cook for 2-5 minutes (turning the leaves after a minute or two) or until the leaves collapse down and become tender. Drain in a colander and, when it's cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much of the moisture as possible, then chop it finely. In a bowl, mix the chopped spinach, the Ricotta and approximately 5floz/150ml of the sauce. Season well with salt, pepper and the grated nutmeg. Mix together thoroughly, then fold in the crumbled Gorgonzola. Toast the pinenuts (ie dry-fry) in a small frying pan over a medium heat for about one minute, stirring/shaking regularly to make sure they don't burn.

Spread a quarter of the sauce into the bottom of the dish, then add a third of the spinach filling, then a scattering of toasted pinenuts. Cover this with a layer of noodles. Repeat this layering two more times, adding a third of the Mozzarella along with the pine nuts (ie: sauce, spinach, Mozzarella, pine nuts, noodles). After the layer of noodles (the third and last noodle layer), finish with the remaining sauce, the rest of the Mozzarella and the reserved Parmesan. When you are ready to cook the lasagna (you can assemble in advance and stick it in the refrigerator for a while, if you like), place it on the middle shelf of a preheated oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, until the top is golden and bubbling. Remove from the oven and let settle for about 10 minutes before serving.