Spinach Lasagne 01/02/00 .. try 1 About 5-6 oz. fresh spinach (prewashed, well, it was cheaper!) 8-9 lasagne noodles (we used 8 but needed 9) 1 stick of butter ½ cup flour 5 cups milk ¼ tsp. nutmeg (eyeballed, I might have used a bit more, about 2 full pinches) 15-16 oz ricotta cheese 16 oz cottage cheese 1# "mediterranean cheese mix" pack from Trader Joe's (pre-grated) $3.59 8 oz. pinenuts (also from TJ's) ½ cup bread crumbs ½ cup grated parmesan Start by filling the biggest pot about 2-3" from the top with hot water, put on to boil with lid on - it takes awhile! When it gets to getting, add some oil and salt and individually drop in the noodles. Occasionally stir, drain, cold water rinse, lay out on wax paper prior to use. It seems like for this recipe you need 9 perfect noodles for a 9x13" pan. (Would be great to find a 13x13" pan, extra deep, for lasagne!) Heat a small cast iron skillet on high for 3-5 minutes, then toss the pinenuts in it to toast. Put half in the cheese mix, reserve the rest for the topping. Make a roux from the butter and flour, add the milk (can dump it in all at once). Whisk until it boils, add salt & pepper to taste, and the nutmeg. (Anne says to start out with whole peeled garlic cloves, and slowly heat them in the butter until they turn clear, then to remove the garlic to the cheese mixture, and then to proceed - I had a bit of garlic butter on hand so I strained it into the pan and then put the minced garlic into the cheese mixture bowl.) I then dipped out about a cup of the sauce and spread it over the bottom of the 9x13" Pyrex pan. Combine all the cheeses (reserve about 1/4 cup of the grated med cheese mixture for the topping) with the garlic and part of the pinenuts, in a big bowl. Look in the cheese drawer for little bits of stuff to use up - this time we found about a tbsp of cream cheese. Chop the spinach. Combine the reserved grated cheese with the remaining pinenuts and the bread crumbs, to make a topping. Preheat the oven to 350º. Here's the layer sequence: sauce, noodles, cheese, sauce, spinach, noodles, cheese, sauce, spinach, noodles, sauce, topping. We baked for 45 minutes with a cookie sheet below, being leery of the very full pan overflowing. (Got a few drips, too!) We removed it for almost two hours before cutting, to allow it to set up and to allow Dan to get here from Seabeck.