The Best of Both Worlds

Now that our shelter in place order has been extended to May 15th, we are all seeking comfort through various ways. For me, cooking and food are my go to sources for calming myself. It is gradually getting warmer, we are planting in our greenhouse, the garlic is growing, and my daffodils are blooming.

These days, when I ponder what to make, it comes from a place of what is available? It becomes a combination of home-canning, frozen, fresh and pantry staples. I must say that when you put a little thought into it, you will be surprised at what you can come up with to warm the belly. This time it was a fusion of both Greek and Italian cuisines that worked quite well together. I love to make spanakopita, but was out of phyllo dough, I had my quarts of roasted tomato sauce and uncooked lasagna sheets. Then it hit me, why not combine the spanakopita in a lasagna? Bingo, the best of both worlds. It gave us a couple days of comfort food.

SPANAKOPITA LASAGNA

INGREDIENTS:

1. 12 sheets of oven-ready lasagna noodles

2. 16 ounce bag of chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained in a wire strainer

3. Zest from one lemon

4. 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped

5. 3 green onions, using both white and green parts, thinly sliced

6. 4 cloves garlic, grated

7. 4 beaten eggs

8. 10 ounces crumbled feta

9. 16 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

10. 2 cups shredded mozzarella

11. 1 quart of roasted tomato sauce (or equivalent of jarred pasta sauce

12. 2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 x 9 ceramic pan with cooking spray.

2. Place the drained spinach in a clean kitchen towel and gently squeeze out the remaining water. Place spinach in a large bowl.

3. Add lemon zest, dill, green onions, garlic, eggs, feta and goat cheese. Mix gently but thoroughly until combined.

4. In a bowl, combine your pasta sauce with the two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Place a ladle full of pasta sauce in bottom of baking dish, and evenly spread it. Place three oven-ready lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Spoon 1/2 cup of filling on each sheet and distribute evenly. Top with three more lasagna sheets, repeat with filling. Repeat one more time. You should have 3 layers of spinach mixture.

5. On the top of the final lasagna sheets, pour an equal amount of pasta sauce over the 3 groups of layered sheets. Top with mozzarella. Cover with foil and place in pre-heated oven. Bake covered for 25 minutes; uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted and sauce is bubbling.

6. Let rest for 10-15 minutes.

Serves 6

“A good cook works by the fire of imagination not merely by the fire in the stove.”

—Robert Coffin

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