Roasted Tomato & Spinach Summer Lasagna

Pasta + Fresh ingredients + summer = This roasted Tomato Lasagna.

There is just something about this lasagna that people go crazy for. Especially me and my husband! It's easy, it's DELICIOUS and it's full of amazing and fresh ingredients!

I found this recipe a few years ago and it has become a spring and summer staple in our home. It's refreshing, light, and one of the best recipes for lasagna that I have ever found.

I dare you to make it and not cry after the last piece has been eaten! Yes.. we take food very seriously in our house!

Ingredients:

12 pieces whole wheat lasagna noodles
3 1/2 lbs of tomatoes (about 8-10 medium sizes tomatoes)

1 tub light ricotta

2 cups of spinach (or more if you prefer. I use between 3-4cups)
4-5 cloves of fresh garlic
1 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided (it calls for quite a bit. You could probably half this and still be satisfied!)
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp oregano
Olive Oil
salt
pepper

Directions:

Drain Ricotta well, and clean tomatoes.

Preheat oven to 450ºF, slice tomatoes thickly and place on baking sheet covered in parchment paper (Believe me! Parchment will save you hours of soaking and scrubbing your baking sheets)
Use as much of the tomato as possible and make sure you fill two cookie sheets.
Drizzle with olive oil and season with as much salt and pepper as you like. I like adding a fair amount of pepper as it adds a nice spice during roasting.
Turn tomatoes over and season the back sides making sure to get everything coated.

Roast for 45 minutes, rotating pans once or twice during cooking. This is one recipe that makes me wish I had a convection oven! If you are one of the lucky ones, you can roast at the same temperature, but decrease the time roasting to 30 minutes. They should look something like this:

Don't worry about the burnt edges! They taste AMAZINGLY sweet and caramelized in the finished product!

While the tomatoes are roasting, cook noodles and chill.
In a fry pan, heat olive oil and garlic. Add spinach and heat until fragrant and limp.

Add ricotta, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, flour, egg and nutmeg. Mix well and put aside.

In a greased baking sheet, lay three noodles and top with half of your spinach ricotta mixture.

Lay another three noodles, and top with one baking sheet worth of tomatoes.

Sprinkle with oregano and half of what you have left of the parmesan cheese. I also like to sprinkle with a little grated cheese as well! You can never have too much cheese as far as I am concerned!

Layer the tomatoes with another three noodles and add the rest of the mixture. Lay the last three noodles and cover with the rest of the tomatoes, oregano, parmesan and grated cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 375ºF for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake again for another 25 minutes. Remove and let stand 4-5 minutes before serving... if you can wait that long!

Serve this great summer lasagna with a big garden salad!

Or heat up a fresh baguette and serve with an oil, garlic and balsamic vinegar dipping sauce, or just simply with some butter.

I apologize for not having a picture of the finished product! We are going on vacation in a two weeks and so I made this to freeze and heat up while we are down south! Nothing like a delicious lasagna after a nice long day on the beach! Myrtle Beach here we come!