This spinach-herb lasagna clearly shows the influence of Lidia Bastianich’s recipes, and I’m completely cool with that. She’s awesome. It’s a white lasagna, heavy with spinach, loaded with cheese, and it has a thin striation of smoky bacon.
What you need to serve 12 more than generously:
½ lb smoky, peppered bacon
1 large, white onion, chopped
8 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 eggs
1½ tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 lbs ricotta, strained overnight
6 oz. mascarpone
1 package of frozen, chopped spinach, thawed
4 cups of Herbed Béchamel
1½-2 lbs lasagna noodles, cooked to al dente
3 cups shredded parmesan
1 lb fresh mozzarella, sliced thin or shredded
How to do it:
Fry the bacon until crispy. Chop coarsely. Set aside.
Saute onion with a touch of salt in 1 Tbs bacon fat, until translucent. Add garlic and continue to sauté until fragrant, about a minute. Check seasoning, then set aside and allow to cool.
Beat eggs with salt and pepper, until frothy. Beat in ricotta and mascarpone until fully incorporated. Squeeze spinach in your fist, hard, to remove (and discard) as much of its liquid as you can. Add strained spinach to ricotta mixture and stir until spinach is evenly distributed. Correct seasoning.
Assemble lasagna according layer list, below. Bake, covered with foil, at 350ºF for 45 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for another 20 minutes. Allow finished lasagna to sit for 1 to 3 hours before slicing. After slicing, lasagna may be reheated (covered, at 350°F), if need be, before removing portions from the pan.
Lasagna may be assembled and refrigerated the day before baking, but no earlier than that.
- Parmesan (4 and 5 of 5)
- Fold in overhanging noodles
- Parmesan (3 of 5)
- Béchamel (3 of 3)
- Lengthwise noodles that don’t overhang
- Parmesan (2 of 5)
- Béchamel (2 of 3)
- Onion mixture
- Mozzarella
- Lengthwise noodles
- Parmesan (1 of 5)
- Ricotta (2 of 2)
- Crosswise noodles
- Béchamel (1 of 3)
- Bacon
- Ricotta (1 of 2)
- Lengthwise noodles
- A bit of béchamel
- Butter the baking dish
Plate each serving with a ladle full of the same Herbed Béchamel that makes up the layers. (You’ll need to make an extra half-batch. If you threw a little ground lamb into that half-batch, I certainly would not freak out.)
Herbed Béchamel
What you need:
4 cups of whole milk
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 bay leaf
¼ cup fresh thyme, packed
1 Tbs dried basil
3 Tbs butter
¼ cup AP flour
1/3 cup shredded parmesan
How to do it:
- Heat the milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, bay leaf, thyme, and basil just to the precipice of boiling.
- In a separate pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and stir vigorously until it turns to a light tan or deep cream color – but don’t let it brown. Gradually pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, stirring like a madman, until the two are fully homogenized.
- Cook, stirring in a relaxed but constant manner, until the mixture thickens to a decidedly gravy-esque consistency.
- Off heat. Stir in cheese until incorporated. Taste to correct seasonings. It must not be bland, and it should have a subtle touch of heat that shows up as an afterthought.
If you’re a closet racist and you think that serving white lasagna to your guests might give you away, top it with a spicy tomato-based meat sauce or marinara; this lasagna will take to that pairing quite nicely. But even better, stop being a racist.
Spinach-Herb Lasagna
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Love white lasagna loaded with cheese 😉 This looks so good Jeff !
Thanks, man!
I’ve never crisscrossed the noodles before. I can certainly see that it would add to the structure (and I’m not even an engineer!). GREG
Yeah, and once it’s cut, you can’t tell.
Mmmm, this looks awesome, creamy and tasty! I absolutely LOVE anything spinach and ricotta!
Thanks!
Oh, I could definitely get on board with this lasagna, Jeff….and not just because you used the word ‘striation’ to describe the bacon layer. These flavors sound like they’re right up my alley! And I laughed to myself at how you described the order of the layers. I only have one or two lasagna recipes out on my site, but I remember writing the instructions was a serious pain! Well done on this one, my friend!
Thanks, man!
OK, so one of the reasons I dig your food is that you like to eat like me. You actually use bacon fat to sauce things in… perfect. People have no idea how much flavor their losing by not doing that. Secondly, as Dave is not a fan of the delicious tomato (his loss!) I usually make a bechamel type sauce or pesto instead, like here. This great and I like the crossing of the lasagne, it adds stability. Awesome Jeff.
Thanks, Kevin. My grandma lived through tough times where you threw nothing away, and much of that rubbed off on me. She was both clever and economical.
Umm, that would be sauté – darn you spell check!
I would fix that for you Kevin – and I probably should – but 1) you fixed it here, and 2) saucing things in bacon fat sounds like so much fun! Spinach salad in the 80’s, anyone?
This looks so good! Love the bacon, spinach, bechamel combo. 🙂
Thanks!
Might be fun to use bacon fat when making your bechamel. Because, well, bacon. Good stuff — thanks.
Yowsa this looks awesome! Thanks for all the details on layering it up properly, so cool…
Thanks, man!
Jeff, I love a veggie (I know you have bacon in it) lasagna. So if it is ok, that is what this smells like. Looks good and rich.
It’d be fine without the bacon.
Really looks delish. Way to go!
Thanks, man.
This looks seriously delicious!! I just love lasagna but don’t always feel like putting in the effort haha.
I know exactly what you mean, Natasha. So worth it, though. And considering that it freezes well, you can have a great meal from it at least a couple times.
I make a spinach lasagna but yours tops the list with the added bacon…great idea.
Thanks!
Now that’s one lasagne big enough to feed a small suburb. This is epic, Jeff! I’m beginning to look at you as the lasagne king.
🙂
oh no – this looks sooooo deliciously sinful, I will have to make it. follow you now.
Thanks, Carina.