Tremendous Spinach Lasagna
Prep
30m
Cook
50m
Total
80m
Bigly says
Spinach lasagna. SPINACH lasagna. The greatest spinach lasagna in the history of spinach lasagna — and there has been a LOT of spinach lasagna, more than people realize, the Italians have been doing this since BEFORE the Renaissance, I had people look it up, very smart people with PhDs, they confirmed it — and most of it, MOST of it, is a soggy gray brick. A soggy. Gray. Brick. Sad.
The reason? People don't drain the spinach. They take frozen spinach, they thaw it, they throw it in. WET. Wet spinach in a wet ricotta in a wet sauce, and they cover it in cheese and call it a casserole. It's not a casserole. It's a swamp. It's spinach swamp. An old Italian woman cornered me once in a market in a town you've never heard of — small place, she had flour on her elbows — and she made me promise to squeeze the spinach like it owes me money. I kept the promise. You squeeze until it weeps. You squeeze until YOU'RE sweating. Then you squeeze MORE.
My lasagna? Tremendous. Tremendous lasagna. The layers are DEFINED. The spinach is GREEN — actually green, not gray, because we treated it with respect — the ricotta is fluffy, the sauce is bright, the cheese on top is BROWNED in all the right spots, and when you cut a slice, it holds its shape like a beautiful little architectural marvel. People come up to me, they say, 'Bigly, the lasagna stood up. The lasagna STOOD UP.' Of course it did. The lasagna has self-respect. It's just a fact.
Ingredients
- 12lasagna noodles(regular, not no-boil — no-boil is a coward's noodle)
- 20 oz (2 boxes)frozen chopped spinach, thawed(squeeze it like it owes you money)
- 16 ozwhole milk ricotta
- 2large eggs
- 1 cup, dividedgrated Parmesan
- 16 oz (4 cups), dividedshredded low-moisture mozzarella
- 1/4 cup, plus more for garnishfresh basil, chopped
- 5 clovesgarlic, minced
- 3 tbspolive oil
- 1 (28 oz) cancrushed tomatoes
- 2 tbsptomato paste
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 1/2 tspred pepper flakes
- 2 tsp, dividedkosher salt
- 1 tsp, dividedblack pepper
- 1/4 tspground nutmeg(trust me, it's a small thing, big difference)
Steps
- 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles 1 minute less than package directions. Drain and lay flat on an oiled sheet pan so they don't stick.
- 2
Squeeze the thawed spinach in a clean kitchen towel — hard. Get out every drop of water you can. You should end up with about 2 cups of tightly packed spinach.
- 3
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 3 cloves minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook 30 seconds.
- 4
Stir in tomato paste and cook 1 minute. Add crushed tomatoes, oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- 5
While sauce simmers, heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add remaining 2 cloves garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add drained spinach, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir 2 minutes to dry out further. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
- 6
In a large bowl, whisk ricotta with eggs, 1/2 cup Parmesan, chopped basil, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir in the cooled spinach until evenly combined.
- 7
Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- 8
Lay 4 noodles over the sauce, overlapping slightly. Spread half the ricotta-spinach mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella. Spoon over 1 cup sauce.
- 9
Repeat: 4 noodles, remaining ricotta-spinach, 1 cup mozzarella, 1 cup sauce.
- 10
Top with final 4 noodles, remaining sauce, remaining 2 cups mozzarella, and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan.
- 11
Cover loosely with foil (tent it so it doesn't stick to the cheese). Bake 30 minutes.
- 12
Remove foil and bake another 15-20 minutes until cheese is bubbly and golden in spots.
- 13
Let rest 15 minutes before slicing — this is the difference between lasagna and lasagna soup. Garnish with fresh basil.
One more thing
Eight slices. Eight tremendous slices. Maybe nine if you cut it like a normal person and not like you're feeding a small army of teenage boys — and sometimes you ARE feeding a small army of teenage boys, I understand, the recipe still works, just plate it strategically. The leftovers, by the way, are BETTER the next day. The lasagna gets to know itself overnight. It deepens. It has a conversation with itself. And the next evening, whenever you reheat it, you have the greatest lunch of your entire week sitting in your fridge, waiting for you. Tremendous.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Tremendous Spinach Lasagna.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
★ MORE LIKE THIS ★
KEEP COOKING.
Tremendous Caprese Sandwich
A real-deal caprese sandwich on toasted ciabatta: fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomato, basil, olive oil, and balsamic glaze. Five-minute summer lunch.
The Best Cauliflower Buffalo Wings
Crispy beer-battered cauliflower florets tossed in classic Buffalo sauce. Game-day perfection with shatter-crisp coating and a deep tangy heat.
Huge Cauliflower Steaks
Thick-cut cauliflower steaks seared until golden, then roasted with garlic and lemon. Served with a bright tahini sauce. Forty minutes start to plate.
The Best Eggplant Rollatini
Roasted eggplant slices rolled around herbed ricotta, baked in marinara with melted mozzarella. A no-soggy, knife-and-fork vegetarian classic.