Lemon-basil lasagna rolls

Happy new year! I rang in 2013 with some great friends and this is what I cooked for our New Year’s Eve dinner. You know you have good friends when they trust you enough to try a new recipe for the first time on them. We rounded out the meal with bread and a salad. Our menu also included trying to eat 12 grapes at midnight…las doce uvas de la suerte, the twelve grapes of luck (a New Year’s Eve tradition in Spain).

I couldn’t find fresh basil, so I substituted 1 Tablespoon of dried basil. I also omitted the 1 teaspoon of salt that was in the original recipe…that is a lot of salt and seemed unnecessary. The original recipe called for 16 noodles and 2 Tbsp of ricotta filling per noodle, but since I decided to cook the whole package of noodles (20 noodles), I cut the amount of filling to about 1 Tablespoon, which may have changed the noodle-to-filling ratio too much.

Noodle prep

I really liked the lemon zest and I am sure it would be even better with fresh basil. I would make it again, but I’d probably try to jazz it up a bit, possibly by layering some spinach leaves on the noodles or elevating the sauce with vegetables (onion, garlic, peppers) or meat (ground beef or turkey). The sauce from my spinach-artichoke lasagna recipe would probably work very well.

Lemon-basil lasagna rolls
Source: Candice Kumai via People magazine
Serves: 8

Ingredients
1 pound lasagna noodles (1 box, not the pre-cooked ones)
1 jar (2 1/2 cups) marinara sauce, divided
1 container (15 oz) part-skim ricotta cheese
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
1 cup julienned fresh basil, plus more for garnish

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions until al dente; separate and lay flat on cookie sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray to prevent them from sticking together.
3. Cover bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish with 1 cup marinara sauce.
4. Blend ricotta, zest, oregano, and basil in a medium bowl.
5. Spread about 1 Tbsp ricotta mixture evenly over each noodle; roll each tightly to form a compact spiral.
6. Arrange rolled noodles neatly in baking dish and cover with the remaining sauce. Bake covered for 30 minutes.
7. Garnish with additional basil.

NYE dinner