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Clean recipe · cooking.nytimes.com

Spinach Cottage Cheese Lasagna

This is a nostalgic, 1980s-crunchy-mom-style vegetarian lasagna, not an Italian purist’s one. In other words, it’s perfect for a weeknight when red sauce, spinach and cheese feels like it might save your life. Cottage cheese is not only a comforting pleasure, it also has some big advantages over ricotta: It can be easier to find—especially if you’re looking for one without gums and stabilizers. It’s usually cheaper than ricotta, and contains just as much protein but a fraction of the saturated fat. To make prep easier, look for frozen chopped spinach that is packed loosely in a bag, not a box containing a solid block; that way you can use the greens right from the bag, no thawing or squeezing. If you have time, feel free to make your own tomato sauce. Alternatively, if you have no time to chop anything at all, swap the fresh garlic for 2 teaspoons of garlic powder and the fresh basil for dried.

Original recipe: cooking.nytimes.com

Yield:
6 servings
Prep:
0 hr 25 min
Cook:
0 hr 45 min
Total:
1 hr 10 min
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Ingredients

  1. 1 (10-ounce) bag frozen chopped spinach
  2. 2 large eggs
  3. 24 ounces whole-milk (4%) cottage cheese
  4. 5 ounces grated Parmesan (just over 1 cup)
  5. 1 cup chopped fresh basil
  6. 1 head garlic (about 10 cloves), cloves smashed and chopped
  7. 2 teaspoons fine kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
  8. Freshly ground black pepper
  9. Olive oil, for drizzling
  10. 1 (32-ounce) jar marinara sauce
  11. 1 (9-ounce) box no-boil lasagna noodles
  12. 1 (8-ounce) ball fresh mozzarella, sliced

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Feel the bag of spinach: If the spinach appears to be in large clumps, bang the bag on the countertop a few times to loosen and break them up.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Add the cottage cheese, Parmesan, frozen spinach, basil, garlic, salt and a very generous amount of pepper to the bowl. Mix well.
  3. Drizzle a little olive oil into the bottom of a 9- by 13-inch baking pan. Add a generous spoonful of the marinara sauce and, using the back of a spoon, spread the sauce and oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan.
  4. Arrange a layer of noodles to cover the bottom of the pan, breaking them up if necessary. (You will probably use 5 noodles per layer, breaking one of them to fit the gap.)
  5. Spoon half the cottage cheese mixture on top of the noodles and spread the mixture evenly with the back of a spoon. Spoon one-third of the remaining marinara sauce over the cottage cheese and spread it evenly.
  6. Add another noodle layer. Spoon the remaining cottage cheese layer on top and spread it evenly. Spoon half the remaining sauce over that and spread it evenly.
  7. Add a final noodle layer, then pour the remaining marinara sauce over the noodles and spread it evenly. Top with sliced mozzarella and then a drizzle of olive oil.
  8. Bake the lasagna uncovered for 10 minutes.
  9. Increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees. Continue baking until the mozzarella is melted, and the sides and top are deeply browned and bubbly, about 25 minutes.
  10. Let the lasagna rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.