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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Lasagna Roll-Ups for Presto Pasta Nights!

I am a big...slash that (I would do it myself, but I haven't quite figured out how to do that on here)...huge lasagna lover! Meaty, veggie, white, seafood, spinach, eggplant, super-cheesy (oh yeah)...throw any of them at me and I can pretty much guarantee I'll eat it; eat it with gusto! I did come across a mighty tasty looking recipe for Lasagna Roll-Ups over at Cooking Tip of the Day a while ago and knew that this recipe and I would become fast friends. The nice thing about it is that (like the big pan of lasagna), there are so many ways to change it around and make it into a whole new meal. I've adapted it to fit my tastes for the evening (and my fridge & pantry supplies). Go on over to visit Linda and see how she made it, too! Lasagna Roll-Ups 
 from girlichef's kitchen (adapted from a recipe by Linda of Cooking Tip of the Day) 
yield: 10 roll-ups
 
Meat Sauce:
1 lb. ground beef
2 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, smashed (or minced if you don't like biting into those big bites of garlic like I do)
~1/4 c. Italian Seasoning (or to taste)
1 (28 oz) can Whole Tomatoes w/ their juices
1 (8 oz) can Tomato Sauce
1 Bay Leaf
Sea Salt & Black Pepper- to taste
 
Remaining Ingredients:
10 Lasagna Noodles (the old-fashioned, wavy-edged kind)
1 (15 oz.) container Ricotta cheese (or homemade)
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbs. Italian Seasoning
1 (8 oz) ball fresh Mozzarella (put in freezer, then grated) ...or pre-shredded
 
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
First, get your meat sauce going. Brown ground beef; drain off fat. To the ground beef in the pan, over medium-high heat, add the olive oil, garlic and Italian seasoning. Stir until slightly softened. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce & bay leaf. Mix well. Once the sauce comes to a boil, reduce heat and continue to simmer until ready to use in the recipe (~20 minutes or so). Season w/ salt & pepper to taste.

Cook noodles according to package direction (al dente). Drain and lay them out to dry (on a cookie rack or just on the cutting board).
In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, egg, garlic powder and Italian seasoning; mix well.
Lightly spray a large cutting board (or counter surface) with cooking spray. Lay out your noodles. Spoon ~2 heaping Tbs of cheese mixture onto each noodle. Spread the mixture down the center of the noodle, staying off of the wavy edges.

Next, spread a scant 1/4 c. of meat sauce over the cheese.

Pick an end and gently roll the noodle up, carefully holding edges to keep it straight and keep the filling inside. It's a bit messy, but you can always lick your fingers...and the counter...when you're done.

Place rolls side by side into the prepared pan, seam side down.

Spread remaining meat sauce evenly over the top of the roll-ups, taking care to cover up most of the exposed noodle, so that it won't dry out. If you're anything like me though, you'll purposely leave a few edges exposed to get some of those yummy, crispy noodle edges! Sprinkle cheese over top. Cover with foil that is SPRAYED WITH PAN SPRAY on the inside!!! This will keep the cheese from sticking and coming off (tragic!) when you remove the foil.
Bake for ~30 minutes or until it is bubbly and cheese is melted! Remove foil and place back in oven to brown cheese (or if you are hungry and impatient like we were...just take it out and dish it up!).

Let it sit to cool for ~5 minutes or so, then scoop out one (or two) Roll-Ups per person. Sprinkle with some parsley to garnish. Isn't this what the Olive Garden called Rollatini???I am also submitting to to Joanne of Eats Well With Others, the host of this weeks Presto Pasta Nights
(#122)! It is my first time entering PPN, though I've been telling myself I would do it numerous times over the past 3 months or so. I don't know why, but every time I made a noodle of some sort, I always forgot about it. But not this time brain! Must be that Ginkgo tree I parked under at the library earlier today ;).
PrestoPastaNights
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*Update 12/29/10:I am sharing this w/ the 12 Days of Bloggie-mas!

Would you like to comment?

  1. That seems a really smart way at not having to cut and serve the lasagna - still not really finger food, if you know what I mean

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  2. This looks delicious. I've bookmarked it for cooler weather.

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  3. Just Love the fresh herbs! Nice close up shots too!

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  4. Yippy...lasagna!!! I love them too. I don't make them too often, but when they're in my line of sight my fork heads towards it. Nicely done with the roll-ups

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  5. That looks gorgeous. This house loves lasagna and everything similar, after all we live in lasagna's homeland, hahaha.
    Seriously, my daughter told me the other day, after we had had lasagna for two days in a row, that I had a lasagna belly (I belive it was the beer I drank over the last 10 days, whatever)

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  6. GREAT instructions. Hubby is freaked out by ricotta, but I think that fresh mozerella and meat sauce inside the roll up would be good too.

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  7. Girli, your lasagna roll ups look excellent! I would have no problem forking down a couple of these! YUM YUM

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  8. Yum! They look like the perfect comfort food and more fun than regular lasagna too.

    BTW--if you ever figure out how to do the slash / markout on Blogger let me know! ;-)

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  9. These are very delicious lookinh. Great alternative to regular lasagna.

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  10. Great looking roll ups. I haven't made lasagna in years although I love it.
    Sam

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  11. I love these. They look beautiful and with all the fresh herbs, must be so tasty!

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  12. Simply grand! I also love lasagna in every shape, form and ingredient. I love the idea of the roll ups. Time to get my herb scissors out and have a really fresh sauce! Great posting.

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  13. i've probably said this before, but I love these step-by-step photos, and this looks fantastic

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  14. These look fun and great for kids. I love how cute they are all rolled up!!

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  15. Mmmmm, these look so good! I make spinach lasagna roll ups - which reminds me, haven't made them in a long time. I need to put it on the list now that I'm back in the kitchen :-)

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  16. These look wonderful! I love the idea of trying these instead of my normal lasagna next time!

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  17. Gosh, I haven't had any dinner yet and this got my stomach hungry for some lasagna!

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  18. What a great meal! And the recipe is so versatile. Rolling up the noodles makes little bundles that are easier to serve. This is making me hungry.

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  19. I'm crying because nobody in my house likes lasagna except me...and now I really want some!

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  20. That looks wicked good. I love lasagna. My girlfriend won't touch it though, so I don't get to make it much.

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  21. I am also a lasagne fiend! I've never made roll-ups though. Yours looks super! I'll have to give them a try sometime.

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  22. Oooooo ahhhhh Those look so good!

    Do you have any leftovers?

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  23. Oh, these look very tasty and the rolls are so pretty! Pasta is one of my favorite comfort foods. Cute blog!

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  24. Yum!! These have been on my short (not so short) list of things to make! I love how easy they are to portion or freeze!

    Yours look great!!!

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  25. I'm drooling...so good!!!

    This is the only way I have ever made "lasagne." I've never actually done the whole layering thing with the noodles and sauce and all the fixins~ I saw Giada make lasagne rolls once on Food Network, and I never looked back. Except she made a white sauce that she set her rolls in and drizzled the top with red sauce. If I have the time, I like to mimic her version~ otherwise it's just sauce and cheese galore!! ;)

    P.S.: GREAT PICTURES! I need a lesson from you hahahaa!

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  26. YUM on the pasta! Just roll me up inside and I will eat my way out :)

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  27. Everyone here loves lasagna. I bet they'd dig it in rolls for sure. It looks and sounds wonderful. I'm suddenly craving lasagna...and your cupcakes with cookie dough. So much for my Vegas diet...I'm going to get a snack...
    Thanks alot. : )

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  28. mmm cheesy and meaty...delicious!

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  29. Great looking dish. Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights. Now that you've finally sent a dish in...I hope to see many more.

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  30. So many TFF folk are noodling this week to support Joanne!
    I love the roll ups, they look amazing!

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  31. Those look delicious! Thanks for the comment, by the way. The brownies are delicious. Let me know if you give them a try!

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  32. What makes lasagna so darn comforting?! I love it. Great recipe. With the meat my husband will love it, without the meat I will be like Garfield and eat the entire tray......

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  33. Boy did this make me hungry. I love pasta. All kinds of pasta and I love lasagna. Your photos really jumped out at me. They were saying, "Eat me, eat me." Wish I could. :)

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  34. I almost missed this! That would of been a real shame! These are incredible! It puts a new spin on lasagana.

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  35. Terrific!!! Glad to have inspired you! Sounds delicious! Good luck with your submission.

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  36. These look like so much fun to make, and very delicious to eat!

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  37. this looks divine love lasagne well any pasta dish really!

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  38. Thanks for submitting this to presto pasta! I love lasagna as well but really only have it around christmas because of all the time it takes. These seem like the perfect way to get around that!

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  39. NOO! Don't say Olive Garden in this post! Olive Garden has got NOTHING on this amazing rolled-up lasagna! This smacks OG's ass!

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  40. I'm so excited that I'm stumbling across all of these fabulous looking recipes as I'm making my grocery list/meal plan for this weekend and next week! Your lasagna roll-ups look wonderful!!!

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  41. We love lasagna,but I've never tried making it at home. Must try it :)

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  42. vat a lovely close up pic.. love the presentation and i just love lasagna :)

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  43. Fabulous! The creamy ricotta makes this so tempting :D

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  44. Delectable!!!!!!
    This is my husband and my son favorite dish to have during the weekend.

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  45. (I saw this yesterday and thought I had commented but I guess not...maybe the boss was coming in and I had to quit real quick LOL)omg...those look incredible! My sister mentioned that she's done that before and I didn't think much about it but after seeing this...YUM! my stomach is growling. might be a good thing to make for a work potluck!btw..I think you need a glass of merlot with that ;)

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  46. wow this looks delicious!loved the presentation as well as the pics!!!

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  47. I made some low-fat lasagne rollups the other night (with fake crab meat and cottage cheese). I thought they weren't bad, but alas, I am still eating away on them as the rest of the family was not impressed. Sigh. Back to the drawing board. Yours look yummy!

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  48. mmmm I love Rolatini... and I adore lasagna... Awesome!!!!

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  49. Oh yes! Look at all that delicously seasoned ricotta. Great tip about spraying the inside of the foil - I usually end up scraping all that cheese off the foil! 8-D

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  50. Mmmm! I am loving that close up of the meat on top of the dollop of cheese. I could just pick it up with my fingers and eat it up!

    I haven't figured out how to cross things out either, but if you do, let me know :-)

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  51. Lasagne yummy! and I love the meat AND the cheese together! Wonderful!

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  52. Eliminates the need to cut up the lasagna. Neat idea.

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  53. Fun idea. Love to do this with the kids.

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  54. What is great about making lasagna this way is that you can mix it up. You can have tomato sauce on one side of the dish and pesto alfredo on the other. 

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