Happy Mother's Day & Lasagna Rollata al Forno

Where am I??  I got a few emails asking me this. I am very much alive! It's just that I wanted to take a little break from blogging. It doesn't mean I stopped making different foods. It was just that I wanted to withdraw myself from everything else and spend some quality time with my family.
I want to wish all my friends a very Happy and Blessed Mother's day.

Rollata means rolls and al Forno, well we all foodies know it means from the oven. Pizza, bread and pasta do fall in this al Forno category. Pasta al Forno is cooked twice, boiled first and then baked. So it becomes tricky to retain that al-dante texture. That's why, I like to cook my pasta for only 3-4 minutes, or until they are pliable if I am using them for any al Forno recipes. This lasagna rollata turned out to be finger-licking delicious. I used simple tomato and basil sauce, with lots of ricotta cheese filling, topped with pizza mozzarella and voila, a great tasting, forever popular Italian entrée was ready for us to devour! To top that of, I made rosemary garlic butter rolls to wipe our dishes clean. Not a single speck of sauce was remaining on the platters.


Pasta to me is a very versatile, easy to prepare dish that can be pleasing to both kids and adults alike. Luckily, I and my family are big pasta lovers. When I am running late from work, I always tend to boil the pasta, toss them with my homemade marinara sauce( I make this sauce for a week and stash the bottles in the refrigerator), paired with salad and some chicken and there we have a delicious dinner. I also always keep French baguette or Italian ciabatta in my pantry. Toast them lightly, drizzle with EVOO and rub the garlic on them. And we've got ourselves authentic Italian garlic bread. No fuss, no mess dinner.

Lasagna Rollata al Forno

Ingredients
12 lasagna noodles, cooked in boiling water until just pliable, for about 3 minutes
1 lb. ricotta cheese
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
3 cups marinara sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

How to:

Pre heat the oven to 400° F.

Mix ricotta cheese, egg, salt and pepper in a small bowl. (to make this more nutritious, you can add thawed spinach from one box in this)

Spread 2 cups of sauce on the bottom of the glass dish.

Spread ricotta mixture evenly on the noodles lengthwise, carefully roll the noodles.

Place seam side down on the glass dish.

Sprinkle with mozzarella, cover with foil and bake in the hot oven for about 40 minutes.

Now remove the foil and bake for further 10 minutes or so until the cheese is browned.

Heat up the remaining sauce, pour that sauce on the serving plates, place lasagna rolls on top of the sauce and serve hot with garlic bread.