Spinach-feta-beef-tomato lasagne

Since I went gluten-free I’ve been exploring.

I’ve tasted food I’ve never even heard of before. I’ve been cooking food I’ve never cooked before.

Such as spinach. Of course I’ve eaten spinach before. I’ve even cooked spinach - frozen packaged creamed spinach that is. But I’ve never bought fresh spinach and prepared it.
I think it is totally amazing how spinach collapses when you cook it. And it is so simple to prepare.

Last weekend we had lasagne. We couldn’t decide on the ingredients though. I was in favour of spinach and feta; my boyfriend preferred minced meat and tomato sauce.
So we just combined them. It was delicious.


Spinach-feta-beef-tomato lasagne

For the pasta dough follow GlutenFree Sox Fan's recipe. This time I didn’t substitute any flour (as for the tortellini) and it turned out great!
Either use your pasta machine or just roll the dough really thin and cut it to the size of lasagne sheets.

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons corn starch
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup milk
salt, nutmeg to taste

Slowly melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the corn starch and stir well. Add the stock and milk. Stir more. Season with salt and nutmeg. Let the sauce boil once and let it cool down a little.

For the lower layers:
250g minced beef
3 tablespoons tomato puree
salt, pepper to taste
1 teaspoon freshly minced thyme
1 teaspoon freshly minced basil
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the shallot and garlic until translucent. Add the minced meat and season with salt and pepper. Add the tomato puree and herbs when the meat is thoroughly fried. Set aside.

For the upper layers:
150g fresh spinach, rinsed and dried
salt and pepper to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
200g feta
1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a small pan and sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Add the spinach and let it fall. Stir occasionally. When the spinach has collapsed, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Put one or two lasagne sheets in a casserole (depending on the size of your casserole). Add some of the meat-tomato mixture and top it with a bit of the sauce. Place another layer of lasagne sheets on top. Add the rest of the meat-tomato mixture and top it with some more sauce. Put another layer of lasagne sheet(s) on top. Now add a bit of spinach and crumble some feta onto the spinach. Add some more sauce and put another lasagne sheet on top. Thereon put the rest of the spinach, crumble some more feta onto the spinach and add some of the sauce. Put the last layer of lasagne sheet(s) on top. Finish with the rest of the sauce and the rest of the crumbled feta. Add some more shredded cheese if you like. Put the lasagne into the oven and let it bake for 30 minutes. Serves 2. Enjoy.