Hummingbird Recipe.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been inundated with cooking reels on Facebook, have you? One of the first ones I opened was Giada De Laurentiis preparing a quick and easy Sheet Pan Lasagne. It looks so good, and Giada is so personable and convincing, I decided to scoot over to Schiavoni’s to pick up the few items I didn’t have on hand, and made it that evening for dinner. And again once more since then! It IS delicious and easy! Buon Appetito!

4 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus salt for the pasta water

1 lb lasagne pasta broken into 2 inch pieces

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or 1 tsp of Calabrian Chili Paste)

1 5 oz. shell of baby spinach

1 cup part skin ricotta cheese

1 lb spicy Italian sausage, casings removed (I used sweet Italian sausage)

1 red onion, diced

4 cups of jarred marinara sauce (I made my own meat sauce using the sausage meat, and adding the diced red onion after a brief cook; see directions below)

2 1/2 cups shredded low moisture mozzarella

1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmesan

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Oil a straight sided 12 x 17 inch sheet pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Set aside.

Heat medium size skillet to a medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Cook while stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the spinach and salt and cook, moving the spinach around until it is wilted, about another minute. Move the spinach to a strainer and press firmly to remove excess liquid. Place the spinach in a medium bowl. Using kitchen scissors, slice up the spinach into chopped pieces. (I put the spinach on a plate and cut it with a knife—very easy and neat.) Add the ricotta cheese, stir to combine and set the ricotta/spinach mixture aside.

Wipe out the skillet and bring it back to medium heat. Add remaining olive oil along with sausage and cook until it is beginning to brown, around 3 minutes. Using a wooded spoon, break apart the sausage into bit sized pieces and continue to cook, breaking apart as you go until it is browned, another 5 minutes. Add red onion to the pan and cook until the onion is fragrant and begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat.

Bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Be sure the pot is large enough for the pasta to “swim freely” when cooking. Season water generously with salt. Cook the pasta for 4 minutes, stirring to avoid clumping. Drain well, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water.

While pasta is cooking, add marinara to the pan with the sausage and onion and mix well.

Add the 4-minute pasta, pasta water, 1 cup of mozzarella and 1/2 cup of grated parmesan. Combine ingredients.

Spread sausage, sauce, and cheese mixture evenly in the prepared sheet pan. Dollop ricotta mixture on top, with spacing between dollops. Sprinkle remaining 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese over top. Place pan on rack in the middle of the oven and cook until the pasta is tender, the sauce is bubbling, and the top is lightly browned, approximately 30 minutes, but begin to check it after around 20 minutes to avoid “over browning” the top. Let the lasagne rest at room temperature for about 5 minutes before cutting into squares. Serve with extra warmed marinara sauce if desired. (We did not need it.)

Note: I estimate that the full recipe serves 6-8. I half-ed the recipe (except the olive oil!) and prepared it in a quarter sheet pan, cutting the lasagne into 6 pieces. The half recipe served 4. (One dinner for 2, and one lunch for 2.) It was delicious and great reheated!