Spinach and Fontina Lasagne
Inspired by techniques from America's Test Kitchen.
A meat-free lasagne layered with spinach béchamel, a smooth cottage cheese layer, Parmesan and melting fontina.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
Unlock all flavours with Premium
This flavour is part of Premium. You can see the ingredients and nutrition; the quantities and the full method are for members.
Premium: $4.99/month or $39.99/year.
Equipment
- large pot
- bowl of iced water
- clean tea towel
- medium saucepan
- whisk
- food processor
- 23 x 33 cm baking dish
- foil
- baking tray (to catch drips)
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 444 kcal |
| Protein | 23.3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 35.7 g |
| of which sugars | 9.3 g |
| of which free sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 23.6 g |
| of which saturates | 13.8 g |
| Fibre | 3.3 g |
| Salt | 1.65 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
5.2 g High Protein needs ≥ 10 g
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
Metric · 8 servings
Spinach
- 570 g curly spinach, stems removed
- 18 g fine sea salt or table salt, for blanching about 1 tbsp; most goes down the drain
Sauce
- 70 g unsalted butter
- 6 shallots, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 35 g plain flour
- 830 ml whole milk
- 2 bay leaves
- ¾ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1.5 g fine sea salt or table salt about ¼ tsp
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 15 g Parmesan, finely grated
Filling
- 225 g cottage cheese
- 1 large egg
Assembly
- 12 no-pre-cook lasagne sheets
- 40 g Parmesan, finely grated
- 225 g fontina, grated
- 1
Blanch the spinach. Boil a large pot of water with the salt, add the spinach for just 5 s until wilted, then lift it into iced water to cool. Drain, wrap in a tea towel and wring hard until dry, then chop. Squeezing out the water is what stops the lasagne going soggy.
- 2
White sauce. Melt the butter in the saucepan over medium heat and cook the shallots and garlic about 4 min until soft. Stir in the flour for 1-2 min without browning, whisk in the milk and bring to the boil. Add the bay, nutmeg, salt and pepper, then simmer gently 10 min, whisking now and then. Remove the bay and whisk in the 15 g Parmesan.
- 3
Divide the sauce. Keep 120 ml plain sauce for the base and stir the chopped spinach into the rest.
- 4
Cheese layer. Blend the cottage cheese and egg in the processor until completely smooth.
- 5
Soften the sheets. Heat the oven to 220 °C (200 °C fan). Soak the sheets in 5 cm of just-boiled water in the baking dish for 5 min until pliable, then lay them on tea towels. Dry and grease the dish.
- 6
Layer. Spread the plain sauce over the base and lay 3 sheets on top. Make three layers, each of spinach sauce and 3 sheets, scattering the Parmesan over the first, half the fontina over the second and the cottage-cheese mixture over the third. Finish with the last 3 sheets, the rest of the spinach sauce and the remaining fontina.
- 7
Bake. Cover with greased foil and bake about 20 min until bubbling at the edges, then uncover and bake 10-15 min until spotty brown. Rest 15 min before cutting.
Storage
Cool, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours for up to 3 days, or freeze portions for up to 2 months. Reheat covered in a 180 °C oven until piping hot (74 °C) in the centre.
