Spinat-Feta-Lasagne (spinach and feta lasagne)
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Spinach and feta filling
- 600 g fresh spinach, wilted, squeezed completely dry, chopped rounded
- 150 g onion, finely chopped rounded
- 2 garlic cloves rounded
- 20 ml olive oil rounded
- 200 g feta, crumbled rounded
Béchamel
- 60 g butter rounded
- 60 g flour rounded
- 800 ml milk rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
- to taste freshly grated nutmeg rounded
To assemble
- 250 g dried lasagne sheets, no pre-cook needed rounded
- 100 g grated hard cheese rounded
Method
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a pan and sweat the onion and garlic for 4 minutes, until softened. Add the wrung-dry spinach and warm through, folding in the feta off the heat.
- For the béchamel, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook 1 minute, stirring. Gradually whisk in the milk until smooth. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring, until thickened. Season generously with salt and nutmeg; this sauce carries most of the seasoning for the whole dish.
- Heat the oven to 190°C. Spread a thin layer of béchamel in the base of a baking dish. Layer lasagne sheets over it, then a layer of the spinach and feta filling, then more béchamel. Repeat the layers, finishing with a generous layer of béchamel and the grated cheese on top.
- Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until deeply golden and bubbling. Rest 15 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- Wring the spinach completely dry, harder than seems necessary. Even spinach that looks fully wilted holds a surprising amount of water; skip this step and the finished lasagne turns watery no matter how well everything else is done.
- Season the béchamel generously. With no tomato layer to carry flavour, the sauce is doing all the seasoning work in this lasagne; it should taste distinctly of nutmeg and salt on its own, not bland.
- Let the lasagne rest before cutting, as with any lasagne; it holds together far better once slightly set.
- It keeps for 4 days in the fridge and freezes well.
Ingredient substitutions
- Fresh spinach can be frozen, thawed and squeezed completely dry, in the same finished weight.
- Feta can be a firm goat’s cheese for a slightly different tang.
- A pinch of nutmeg alone is traditional here, but a little fresh dill folded into the spinach is a good, Greek-leaning addition.