Prep Time: 15 minutes 

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

15ml (1 Tbsp) olive oil

800g (2 x bags) baby spinach leaves, washed and dried

For the White sauce:

50g butter

45ml (3 Tbsp) flour

500ml (2 cups) low fat milk

Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

200g ricotta cheese

Zest of 1 lemon

A small handful of fresh basil, washed, dried and roughly chopped

1 large jar of tomato Passata sauce 

250-300g dried lasagne sheets

60ml (1/4 cup) Parmesan cheese, grated

Green salad to serve, optional

METHOD

Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Add the spinach to the pan to wilt (approximately 2-3 minutes). Once wilted, remove from the heat and once cool enough, squeeze the liquid from the spinach, roughly chop and set aside.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, whisking as you go to create a roux (smooth paste). Slowly add the milk to the roux, whisking as you do to create a smooth mixture.

Cook the milk mixture over medium heat, whisking continuously until the mixture thickens. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and set aside. In a bowl, combine the chopped spinach, ricotta cheese, lemon zest and season well with salt and pepper. Mix and set aside.

Take a medium-large baking dish, place a layer of passata sauce at the bottom, followed by a layer of lasagna sheets (approximately 3-4). Top with a bit more Passata sauce, some of the spinach and ricotta mixture and white sauce. Repeat the layers, ending with a final layer of white sauce.

Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and pop into a preheated 200°C oven for 30-35 minutes, until the lasagna sheets are cooked through and the top is golden and bubbling. 

Serve as is or with a green salad of your choice. 

Recipe courtesy of Food Stylist Leila Saffarian from @pass_the_salt_blog