Date Night Dinners - Lasagna Rolls
This week we went to Italy, woohoo! Okay, not really, but we did make an Italian dish. It was my turn to choose the date night dinner (okay, in reality, it is pretty much always my turn), so of course I went with something full of noodles and cheese. I love lasagna. I also love anything caprese and so does Brenden (it is pretty much the only way he will eat tomatoes, and no, ketchup does not count). And, the recipe I found combined the two. I knew it would be the perfect meal for the night.
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| Looks just like lasagna but it is so much easier! |
Honestly, I was really nervous about the rolling - I did not think that there was anyway we would get our filled noodles to roll, but it went so smoothly. The sauce I envisioned slopping out the sides and the nicely sliced tomato being left on the counter after sliding out mid-roll was not a concern I needed to have. In fact, it was pretty much mess free.
The one negative thing I would say about the recipe I found is that the sauce was not as easy as it was made to seem, and honestly I think store bought sauce would have done the trick just as well with less of a hassle. Even with a third brain (Lauren stopped by and joined us for dinner this week and helped man the tomato sauce with her "chef" skills), Brenden and I couldn't figure out how to get the sauce to be just right. It ended up very thin and almost watery, so we added in some of the store bought sauce we had laying around. It turned out that the consistency of the sauce was okay because it made easier to fully cover each noodle roll up.
I don't know maybe I am just not a tomato sauce person. I haven't gotten that technique down. It's okay though because I have conquered the chocolate sauce technique (that's pretty much the same, right?) and Brenden is more then happy with that. Too bad chocolate sauce doesn't go with lasagna...that I know of...yet. But try it out, let me know if you have any tomato sauce making tips. And as always don't fret, the roll ups are delicious whether you use a homemade sauce or not.
Caprese Lasagna Rolls
Recipe adapted from www.everyday-is-a-holiday.blogspot.com, Plum Tomato Basil Lasagna Roll Ups
Ingredients
For Lasagna Rolls
- 10 lasagna noodle uncooked
- 12 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 3/4 cup low fat ricotta cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- ground black pepper to taste
- 3 vine tomatoes, sliced
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 2 cups tomato sauce (see ingredients and recipe)
For Tomato Sauce
- 1 lb ground beef (if desired, skip if you want a vegetarian meal)
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1-15 oz can chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp basil and oregano
- Dash of balsamic vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 jar store bought tomato sauce (to thicken if desired, I used Prego Tomato Basil & Garlic)
Directions
For Tomato Sauce
- Brown the beef over medium-high in a saute pan.
- When fully cooked, drain and set aside.
- Add oil to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat.
- Next add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about a minute (you do not want it to burn).
- Stir in the crushed red pepper flakes.
- Pour in the tomatoes, basil and oregano, and balsamic vinegar.
- Stir for a few minutes to thoroughly combine.
- Mix in ground beef, and salt and pepper
- Turn the burner to a low heat and let the sauce sit until while you prepare the lasagna rolls, stirring and checking periodically.
- As you check, add store bought tomato sauce to help bring it the sauce to you desired thickens (tends to be a bit thin without).
For Lasagna Rolls
- Prepare your lasagna noodles as directed on package.
- When cooked, drain but do not rinse.
- Lay the noodles out flat on a piece of parchment paper to let them dry more (set aside).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the ricotta and egg until well blended.
- Mix the parmesan cheese and 3/4 of the mozzarella cheese.
- Stir in salt and pepper until everything is well combined.
- Spread the filling evenly over each noodle length (about 1/4 of a cup each).
- Place tomato slices on top of noodles and filling. I placed four slices on each noodle and left some room empty space at each end of the noodle (you want a little breathing room between toppings to make rolling the noodles doable).
- Sprinkle basil on top of the tomato layer.
- Next, start at one end and roll each noodle (loosely), creating and ovalish shape when rolled. Make sure you place each seam on the bottom so the noodle rolls don't come undone while you are rolling others. (I promise it is not as tricky as it sounds. I was skeptical too.)
- In a 9x13 glass casserole dish spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce to cover the bottom to prevent the noodles from sticking.
- Place the rolls, seam side down in the dish, lining them up next to each other (I ended up with two rows of 5 rolls).
- Spoon the rest of the sauce on top of and on the sides of the rolls, making sure all the rolls are covered (this is important to keep noodles from drying out while baking).
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the sauced rolls (I added extra parmesan on top because i ran out of mozzarella, but use whichever you prefer).
- Bake the dish for 30 minutes, cheese should be melted and bubbly but not burnt.
- Remove from oven, cool, and enjoy the dish - roll by roll.
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