White Lasagna Alfredo

This Alfredo lasagna can be made vegetarian, with shredded chicken, with Italian pork, or even elk sausage if you’re luck enough to know a hunter. It calls for spinach, which I usually buy cut and frozen. If fresh spinach at my store looks good I’ll use that sauté in butter over medium heat but; chop before cooking and use the leaf and stems, there’s a lot of flavor in the stems of greens such as spinach, parsley, and cilantro.

This recipe assumes you’ve already made the white sauce. If you want to make your sauce from scratch, because no self-respecting chef uses store-bought processed sauce, try my Alfredo sauce. Also, don’t forget the focaccia or garlic bread.

This is a rich lasagna so it feeds more people than a traditional red sauce lasagna, which is a nice way of saying serve smaller pieces. Make sure to let the lasagna cool for at least 15 minutes after coming out of the oven; it gives the cheeses a chance to firm up and ensures your guest won’t burn their mouths.

Ingredients

  • For spinach
    • 2 lbs of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
    • 4 tablespoons butter
    • 1 onion – minced (~ 1/2 cup)
    • 6 garlic cloves – pressed and minced
    • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • For the Ricotta:
    • 2 pounds fresh ricotta cheese
    • 2 eggs
    • 4 oz. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
    • 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
    • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper – optional
  • For Assembly:
    • 16-20 no-bake lasagna noodles

Process

  1. Mise en Place – gather and prepare all your ingredients before starting
  2. If adding protein, prepare/cook in advance and set aside.
  3. Make the Alfredo sauce (or open a jar of Italian white sauce if that’s how you roll).
  4. Prepare Spinach
    1. Heat saucepan on medium and once warm, melt the butter.
    2. Add the onions and sauté until golden (~5 min)
    3. Add garlic and sauté one more min.
    4. Add spinach and stir a few minutes to marry all the flavors.
    5. Turn off heat and set aside.
  5. Prepare Ricotta Mixture
    1. Add half the ricotta, the eggs, Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a food processor.
    2. Process until blended and smooth. Transfer to a large bowl.
    3. Add in the spinach mixture.
    4. Add the remaining ricotta cheese. Stir until blended and smooth.
  6. Assemble
    1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
    2. Spray a high-walled 9×13 baking pan with cooking oil so cheese won’t stick.
    3. Spread a small amount of the white sauce onto the bottom of the pan and top with a layer of noodles (usually 4 noddles per layer).
    4. Spread 1/3 of the spinach mixture on top of the noodles, followed by 1/4 of the sauce and protein.
    5. Repeat step four 3 more times, noodles- spinach- sauce-protein.
    6. Top with a 4th layer of noodles, the last 1/4 of sauce and the remaining cheese.
  7. Baking
    1. Prepare a foil cover by spraying it with cooking oil.
    2. Cover pan tightly with foil, and bake at 400F for 20 minutes.
    3. Reduce heat to 375F, remove the foil, and bake for another 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbly.
    4. Remove from oven and set aside for a least 15 to 30 minutes.
    5. Slice into serving size. Since you let the lasagna cool, the cheese and sauce should not run.

Note: for plating you can sprinkle fresh parsley on top. You can also splash on cayenne pepper (or paprika) for additional color.

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