Spanakopita Lasagna

hudelei's Note:

I love spanakopita, but need about four pairs of hands to make it by my favorite recipe and it's pricey for a small square of it at my favorite restaurant. When I want the flavors without so much hassle, I make this lasagna instead.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions , chopped
• 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach , thawed
• 1 (15 ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese
• ¾ cup skim milk
• 1 (4 ounce) package feta cheese , crumbled
• 2 eggs , lightly beaten
• 3 cloves garlic , minced
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon dried dill
• 9 no-boil lasagna noodles
• 8 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 4 plum tomatoes , sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
3. Saute onions in vegetable oil over medium heat until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, mix spinach, ricotta cheese, milk, feta, eggs, garlic, salt, pepper, and dill.
5. When onions are ready, add them to this mixture.
6. Spread a thin layer of spinach mixture in the baking dish, and then cover with three lasagna noodles.
7. Spread another 1 1/2 cups over the noodles and then sprinkle with half of the mozzarella cheese.
8. Top with three more noodles.
9. Spread another 1 1/2 cups spinach mixture on top and the place the final three lasagna noodles.
10. Top the last three noodles with the remaining spinach mixture, then place tomato slices on top and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.
11. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
12. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.
13. Let stand for ten minutes before cutting.

Reviews

[spatchcock]

This was simply amazing. I did use the no-boil noodles and they taste so much better than the dried ones; loved the dill, and used a good low-salt feta (also added a bit more than recipe called for, just becuase we LOVE feta.) Used fresh mozzarella instead of part-skim. Terrific results, loved it, and will make it many times. I doubled the recipe and froze one lasagna. I am SO happy I did that!

[Chef #1393545]

I used to have this recipe or one very similar to it. I actually searched online to find this recipe since I had lost my copy. One suggestion I have to to use buttermilk in lieu of regular, which is what I did with my old recipe. This increases the savory flavor (as does adding more feta and less ricotta, as suggested by another poster).

[stormylee]

I love the idea of this recipe, even if it takes a whole lot longer to make than my simple and straightforward spanakopita recipe. ;-) Followed the recipe as written, except that I used full-fat mozzarella as that's what I had. I'd like this to be more savoury: for me, there was too much ricotta and not enough feta, so the overall effect was a bit bland. Chalk it up to personal taste - I tend to like very big flavours! I will definitely make this again though, changing the amounts of the different cheeses, because the combination of ingredients really is amazing. Thank you for sharing!