Lasagna Rolls

I have been making lasagna rolls for a very long time. Italian is one of my favorite genres of food to make, even if it is Americanized Italian, partially because of the cheesy, tomatoey goodness, and partially because it is an easy style of cooking to make vegetarian, and still appetizing and filling, even to non-vegetarians. One way I have made Italian a little easier is by making lasagna rolls instead of regular layered lasagna. It's not quite the same, but you still get the layers of ricotta, sauce, and pasta with much less effort. Any way you like lasagna, you can make it as a lasagna roll instead, and it is an easier, quicker method. That's great for those days you don't have all afternoon to cook, or when it's too darn hot out to have the oven on all day, like these crazy Coloradan summers!

I boil just enough lasagna noodles as I will need, and maybe just one or two extra just in case they tear during cooking or while I'm assembling the rolls. The pasta should boil just less than it takes to be completely done, as they will cook just a little more in the oven. While the pasta is boiling, I'll make my ricotta mixture. The ricotta mixture is nothing special; it's pretty standard. It is the same mixture I use for stuffed shells, regular lasagna, etc. Just like any good ricotta mixture, I use one to three eggs, depending on the amount of rolls I'm making. I will also add a good handful or two of mozzarella, and some parmesan or asiago. Of course I season the mixture, with a little salt, garlic, and usually basil. I will also often add a few spoonfuls of thawed and strained frozen spinach.

At this time, I will also be making tomato sauce. I usually use canned tomato sauce that I season lightly. For something like this I don't like a bunch of chunks in my sauce, but putting veggies or sausage or whatever in the sauce would be fine; I just happen to like it simple when I put it over the rolls. I just season the sauce with salt, pepper, a little crushed red pepper, basil, marjoram, and oregano. Not a lot of seasoning; the cheese doesn't need a ton of extra flavor competing with it. The sweetness of a simple tomato sauce, I think, is perfect for this type of dish.

At any rate, when the noodles are not quite cooked, I drain them and rinse them a little with cold water to stop the cooking, then fill them. I simply lay out a noodle on a plate, spoon some ricotta filling over most of the noodle, then roll it up, and set it in a dish. It can be set on end or on it's side, it doesn't matter. I roll them all up, spoon sauce over the whole thing, lots more mozzarella on top, and bake until bubbly and hot. Delicious!

I made a dish of lasagna rolls a couple of days ago, and I made a ton, so I have had the joy of having leftover lasagna rolls that take even less effort than normal to get to the cheesy goodness... only a little time in the microwave. Can't beat that!

Happy eating!