Mushroom and spinach lasagna

Ingredients

For the Béchamel sauce:

5 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

For the lasagna:

2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium-sized onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups mushrooms (button mushrooms or baby bellas)
2-3 ripe roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 jar pasta sauce (tomato basil or roasted garlic is a good base)
About 3 cups spinach leaves
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar
2-3 cups of shredded Italian cheese (mozarella or mix of cheeses)
Lasagna sheets (no pre-cooking required - about 4 standard-sized sheets for a 9x9 baking dish)


Directions

Béchamel sauce (I use Mario Batali's recipe here)

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Season with salt and nutmeg, and set aside until ready to use.

Sauce

In medium pot, heat up the oil on medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and minced garlic. Cook for about 2 min. until onion is transluscent.

Add quartered mushrooms and cook for about 5 min., until mushrooms are golden brown and half-softened. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 min. more.

Pour the sauce in the pot and stir well. Add tomato paste. Cover the pot, leaving a small opening, and let simmer on medium to medium-low heat for about 10-15 min, stirring occasionally.

Add oregano, basil, sugar, and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Assembly

Preheat the oven at 350F.

Ladle a layer of tomato sauce at the bottom of a 9x9 baking dish. Lay out a layer of
lasagna sheets. Ladle a layer of béchamel sauce on top of the sheets. Spread a layer of spinach leaves on top of the white sauce. Sprinkle about a cup of shredded cheese on top of the spinach. Ladle another layer of tomato sauce. Lay out another layer of lasagna sheets. Pour the rest of the béchamel sauce over the sheets.

Put the baking dish in the oven and let cook for 30 min. Sprinkle about a cup of shredded cheese on top of the white sauce and let cook for another 30 min.

Enjoy!

Lemon-ricotta pancakes

Ingredients

2/3 cup ricotta
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs, separated
3 tbsp sugar
½ cup flour
1-2 tbsp lemon extract, to taste
1 pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven at 200F with a cookie sheet inside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the ricotta, milk, egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest or extract until smooth. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt over the ricotta mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined.

In another large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, fold one-third of the egg whites into the ricotta mixture, then gently fold in the remaining whites.

Preheat a griddle over medium heat. Spray the griddle with nonstick cooking spray or oil. Ladle batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook until bubbles form on top and the pancakes are golden underneath, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook for 1 minute more. Transfer to warmed cookie sheet and keep in oven until serving. Repeat with the remaining batter.

I serve them sprinkled with powder sugar, warm syrup, homemade whipped cream, fresh strawberries and sliced bananas.