Been making this for a few years, tweaking the recipe to see what ingredients make the most difference. This can either be made as a lasagne or even cannelloni, the ingredients and preparation are the same only difference is when youre putting it all together!

It's surprisingly not as time consuming as it may look, from start to out of the oven in an hour, which isn't bad for a big hearty meal that could easily feed 4-6.

Admittedly I cheat a bit with the sauces. If I've got the time I'd make the both from scratch, although it's been a while since I've done that so I'll give them recipes for those once I've tried 'em again.

I tend to make it with bruschetta and a simple green salad to start with, although last night we went with skewered chipolata sausages with tomatoes, red onion and garlic kebabs.

Anyhow onto the lasagne...

Preparaton time: 30-40 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

Filling

500g spinach
25g fresh basil
1 egg
250g ricotta cheese
75g gorgonzola
Rock salt & pepper

Sauces, pasta's & cheeses

Fresh lasagne sheets (300g)
Grated or whole mozzarella (however much you want to put on top!)
1 small white onion
1 romano red pepper
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
Cup mushrooms (125g)
Fresh cheese sauce (or four cheeses, which ever you prefer) (250g tub, although only need half)
Lloyd Grossman Tomato & Chilli Sauce (660g large bottle)


To make the filling you'll need to start off by reducing the spinach down. Wash the entire bag of spinach, then in a large pot (medium heat) put as much as you can then put the lid on. It'll take a few minutes to collapse, you'll probably need to do the 500g of spinach in three lots as it won't all fit in a pot (unless you've got industrial pots!). Other way is to microwave the bag, although the large bags of spinach don't come pre-washed.

Once the spinach has collapsed, squeeze most the liquid out (either with your hands, colander or sieve) although don't go mad. Roughly chop it so it's not stringy, then put it all into a mixing bowl. Add the ricotta, gorgonzola and mix in. Roughly chop up all the basil, beat the egg and chuck it all in as well. Give it a good stir, seasoning with salt & pepper. That's pretty much it for the stuffing, leave to one side.

For the red sauce, finely chop up the white onion, romano pepper and mushrooms. In a large pan or pot heat some olive oil (medium heat) and fry the onions, chucking in the peppers and crushed garlic soon after. Put the lid on and let it cook for 5 minutes (remember to stir it every couple of minutes, in case the heat is too high the garlic will stick to the bottom and burn along with the onions) then chuck in the mushrooms.

Once the mushrooms start to release a bit of liquid chuck in the bottle of Lloyd Grossman Tomato & Chilli sauce, giving it all a good stir to make sure its all mixed together. You can use which ever sauce you want, I just prefer Lloyds sauces and wanted a hint of heat (although my assortment of hot sauces tends to take care of that later...).  Keeping the lid slightly ajar and turning the heat down let it cook for another 5 or so minutes allowing some of the water to evaporate.

You'll need a large & deep oven proof lasagne dish. Start by greasing it with some olive oil using a kitchen towel.  Spread a layer of the red sauce mixture on the bottom of the dish, then put two lasagne sheets on top. Spread a layer of white sauce on top of the sheets, although not too much. To be honest I tend to butter the sheets with the white sauce before I layer them in, as it can be a bit awkward to spread once it's inside the dish. On top of this spread some of the spinach filling, adding a layer of red sauce on top. Keep repeating this until you begin to reach the top of the dish. You should be able to use up all the red sauce, filling although only half the white sauce (you may also have a few spare lasagne sheets).

Basically besides the bottom red layer it goes;

1)   Sheet
2)   White sauce
3)   Filling
4)   Red Sauce
5)   Repeat

When you get to the top it's one final layer of sheets, then just finish of the red sauce if you have any left and a bit of white sauce as well. Top with the grated or sliced if you've bought fresh mozzarella.

That's pretty much it – just remember not to drop it (yes... been there...)

Optional extra's

Pine nuts – Dry roasted in a pan, once they go golden chuck them into the spinach filling.
Shallot – Buy one (only really need a small one), chop into rings and sprinkle on top.

Make sure to pre-heat the oven at fan assisted 180° (210° non fan) and put on the middle shelf for 25 minutes. Once it's done leave it to stand on a work surface for about 5 minutes.


I would've snapped some picks but... err we ate it all


I used to make this much even when there was just two people, as it's a great one to make in large quantity and eat for a few days when you're busy with work and stuff.