Lasagna Roll-ups

I saw a video on Facebook the other day for Lasagna roll-ups and decided to try it out.

Lessons Learned

1. Since the rolls are tighter than a traditional lasagna, they seem to cook slower than I'm used to. I normally cook a lasagna at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes to the point where it's all bubbly. After 45 minutes with this it was still relatively cool inside (145 degrees with a thermometer, even though the surface measured 320 degrees with a laser thermometer) so I recommend lowering the temperature to 325 degrees (to prevent the surface from burning) and cooking considerably longer - say an hour and a half.
2. I used Barilla whole wheat lasagna noodles for this batch.  Don't.  Just don't.  They fall apart and are decidedly less tasteful than other alternatives.  For the best lasagna make home made noodles, but that'll add about 90 minutes to your prep time and I was looking for something quick here.
3. When you put the rolls in the baking pan make sure to separate them by a good 1/2 inch - will cook faster and will be easier to get individual rolls out with a spatula for service

Ingredients

Most of this I made up along the way based on experience - feel free to add / change augment.  I'll add a few suggestions later on as well.

Ground Beef for sauce and filling

• One and a half pounds of ground beef (20% fat content, grass fed free range preferred)
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
• 1 TBS oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 TBS olive olive (any old will do)

Sauce

• Three 15 ounce cans of organic tomato paste
• One 15 ounce can of organic chopped tomatoes 
• One 6 ounce can of organic tomato paste
• One cup red wine - I used a Cabernet Frank, but any good red wine (remember- if you wouldn't drink it DON'T cook with it - in general I use up the partially finished bottles of red wine in cooking before they can oxidize) will do
• 1 yellow onion
• 6 cloves garlic - finely chopped
• 1 bay leaf (OK - 2 if you must)
• 1 TBS oregano
• 1/2 the cooked ground beef
• 3 TBS olive oil (higher quality - really fragrant if you have it, I used  Koroneiki olive oil from The Olive Press in Sonoma County)
• Sugar to taste

Filling

• 15 ounce container of ricotta cheese
• 8 ounces mozzarella
• 4 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• 4 cloves garlic - finely chopped
• 1 package frozen spinach.
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• One package (16 + to yield 12 or so finished) of lasagna noodles

Topping

• 8 ounces mozzarella
• 4 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Procedure

The sauce takes the longest - best started in the morning and left simmering all day in a crock pot if possible - a minimum of 3 hours if not.

Start with the ground beef

1. Chop the onion finely - no, really finely - say 1/16' inch square pieces.
2. Chop the garlic even finer - use a garlic press if you must
3. In a large pot (I use a 3 quart Dansk copper pot that lets you use almost no heat what so ever) over medium-low heat. saute the onions until golden brown.
4. Add in the garlic for another 2 minutes or so
5. Add in all the ground beef, raise the heat to medium high / high.  Cook, stirring frequently until the meat is completely done and slightly browned.  You may need to pour out some of the fat while doing this.
6. Place a fine meshed colander in  a large mixing bowl - pour the ground beef mixture into the colander and let the fat drain out
7. Once the fat has drained, separate the mixture in half - reserve half for the filling, the other half for the sauce

Sauce

Using the same large pot

1. Chop the full onion and garlic as described above
2. Brown the onion and garlic as described above
3. Add the cup of red wine in 1/4 cup increments, reducing to 1/2 volume at each step (basically making a slightly watery wine reduction sauce)
4. Reduce the heat to low and add the tomato sauce and paste
5. Drain the liquid from the chopped tomatoes into the pot.  Depending on how fine the tomatoes are, chop further until you have a lumpy mush and no longer can discern large individual pieces of tomato.  place resulting mush into the pot.
6. Add the oregano and bay leaf
7. If using the crock pot method transfer to the crock pot and leave on low setting all day (8-12 hours is best), otherwise cover and reduce to the absolute minimum heat and simmer all day, stirring occasionally.

Filling

1. In a large bowl mix together all the ingredients. 
2. HINT - make sure the frozen spinach is completely thawed or it will leave large clumps that don't work very well
3. Stir with a firm spoon until completely mixed together

Assembly

Grease a 9x12 Pyrex pan (or equivalent) and drizzle about 1/4 inch of the tomato sauce in the bottom

1. Boil the noodles as per the package instructions.
2. Lay the noodles flat and cover with about an 1/8" of the filling
3. Roll up the noodles and place into the pan
4. Once you've done them all (all that you have filling for - I managed 12 full noodles), drizzle the remaining sauce over the top
5. Cover the rolls with the mozzarella and then the Parmesan cheeses.

Bake in the oven at 325 degrees for about 90 minutes until the internal temperature is 175 degrees or higher (you want to cook the garlic in the filling

Suggestions:

• Substitute fresh basil for the oregano in the sauce - skip the oregano in the ground beef if you do so.  I'd finely chop a 6 oz of fresh basil and cook the entire time in the sauce
• Add the zest of a full lemon into the filling, or
• Add a 1/2 tsp of freshly ground nutmed into the filling