Lasagna Rolls

We had this for dinner on Saturday night. Comforting food for a cold winter’s day! It’s a twist on an old classic.  This makes for a nice presentation and a delicious main.  You will soon read  my Sopressata blog where I spent a day making Sopressata and Italian sausage from scratch with a wonderful fellow – a friend of a friend who has been doing this for over 40 years.  While the sausage is ready to eat, the sopressata is far from ready.  At least mid-May before it is done.  So I used the sausage and some chopped kale as the basis for this lasagna as well as some plain tomato sauce and grated cheddar for filling.  The lasagna noodles were the packaged type.  Oh yes, the packaged dry noodles do have their applications, and this is one of those “pantry staples”, I talk about in my classes.  Give this a try, sure to wow everybody with great taste and nutrition.

8 – 10 lasagna noodles (depends on the container you are using to bake them in i.e. 8×8, 9×13 etc)
2 – 3 Hot Italian Sausage links, casings removed
2 cups of chopped frozen Kale, you could also use Spinach
1 cup grated cheddar
540 ml diced Tomatoes, San Marzano preferably
Salt, pepper and olive oil

In a large pot, bring water to a boil – water should cover the lasagna noodles by at least 2”
When the water boils – add the salt, lots of it.  Sorry, every Italian chef I learned to cook with always cooked and spoke of water that tastes like the ocean for boiling pasta
Add the lasagna noodles
While the noodles are cooking – about 8 – 10 minutes – follow the package directions, brown the sausage meat – When cooked – add the meat to your food processor and pulse until you get a nice even sized grind – this is the best way to guaranty even disbursement of sausage meat throughout the dish – try it!  You could also do this on a cutting board with a knife, both methods work well!
Chop the onion, sauté in a pan with some olive oil
Add the kale, cook it down
Add the sausage meat – mix well
Add half the tin of diced tomatoes and stir to coat – turn off the heat
Add the cheddar – stir well – taste, season and taste – remove from pan and let cool
Drain the noodles reserving 1 cup of the liquid – you may not need it, but hold onto it
To the same frying pan you browned the meat/kale mixture in, add the remaining tomatoes, if too thick , use a bit of the reserved pasta water to thin it down – you could also use plain water, stock etc.  I’m giving you my recipe – taste, season and taste
Spread a thin layer of sauce in your baking dish – just like for lasagna
Lay the noodles out on your surface
Using a teaspoon, add the mixture along each noodle
Roll the noodle up and place it in the baking dish – keep doing this until all noodles are used
Pour the sauce over the noodles – you can add more cheese if you have it, and bake in a 350F oven for 35 minutes
Serve with some quickly stir fried vegetables – I did broccoli, cherry tomatoes and yellow/red peppers (oh and of course some Thai Chilies as well)
As always – enjoy!