Recipes
Sausage Meatball Lasagna with Ricotta & Spinach
Baking a lasagna can be quite the labour of love but with our perfectly seasoned Italian sausage meat, you’ll need no more than a few minutes to put together an amazing meatball lasagna. If you’re short for time, don’t give up on this queen of all lasagnas: a good-quality store-bought tomato sauce will do.
25
min70
min6
What You Need
12
lasagna noodles, cooked
1
cup
frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1
container (400 g) ricotta cheese
2
eggs
3
cups
grated mozzarella
TOMATO SAUCE
1
tbsp
extra-virgin olive oil
2
chopped onions
4
garlic cloves, finely chopped
2
cans (540 mL each) Italian plum tomatoes
1/3
cup
tomato paste
1
tsp
Italian spices
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Shape sausage meat into 20 small meatballs using 1 Tbsp. each. Arrange on a cooking sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake in oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
- For the tomato sauce: Meanwhile, in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, warm olive oil over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic for 5 minutes or until soft. Pour tomatoes into a bowl and crush by hand or using a potato masher. Transfer to saucepan along with remaining ingredients, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add meatballs and continue cooking for 15 minutes, until sauce has thickened.
- For the lasagna: Place thawed spinach onto a clean tea towel and press to remove all liquid. Transfer to a bowl, then add in ricotta, eggs and pepper. Mix and set aside.
- Into a large 9×13-inch glass lasagna dish, pour 1 cup of the tomato sauce without the meatballs. Cover with 3 lasagna noodles. Add half of the remaining tomato sauce with the meatballs, then cover with 3 more lasagna noodles. Spread the ricotta-spinach mixture over pasta, then cover with three more lasagna noodles. Pour in remaining tomato sauce with meatballs, then top with the last lasagna noodles. Sprinkle with mozzarella.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350°F (180°C). Cover lasagna dish with aluminum foil, then bake in oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue cooking for 10 minutes or until cheese is golden and sauce bubbly (or broil lightly to speed up). Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
