Pesto Artichoke Lasagna Rolls

This time of year I am more than guilty of binging on heavy meals – I mean those carb laden heavy meals that sit in your tummy until lunch the next day. Those guilty kinds of means. The heavy ones that are oh so worth it. (The sweat your tush off at the gym the next day meals) And lasagna has to be one of my favorites.

I had to travel a few weekends ago and wanted to leave something hearty and delicious behind for my man and these little lasagna rolls were born. I baked them in personal gratin dishes (two or three rolls in each) so that all Handsome had to do was reheat one when he was ready for supper. I also had the forethought to make enough that I wouldn’t have to cook the night I was traveling back home either.  Bam, dinner was on the table.

This meal could easily be adapted to serve a larger group of frozen ahead and saved for busy weeknights.

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Pesto Artichoke Lasagna Rolls

Ingredients:

• 10 lasagna noodles (you may want to make a few extra just in case of tearing or dog theft)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 lb spicy sausage, removed from casings
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 9oz package frozen artichoke, thawed (or one 14oz can rinsed and drained), minced*
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup pesto
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup mozarella cheese
• Sauce of your choice. I used sun dried tomato alfredo on two dishes and a creamy alfredo on the other two.

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Prepare the lasagna noodles according to the directions on the package in a large pot of salted water. After draining, I hang mine over the side of the pot so they are easier to grab later.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and brown, breaking into small chunks along the way. Add the onion half way through while cooking the sausage and let it soften. Add the artichoke and garlic, mix together and cook 30 seconds. Remove from heat.

Mix the pesto, ricotta cheese, egg, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Add 1/4  cup of the parmesan cheese, stir to combine.

Line the bottom of a baking dish or individual gratin dishes with a light coating of sauce.

On a clean work surface, lay out your lasagna noodles. Scoop out about two tablespoons of ricotta filling into each, smoothing with the back of a spoon down the middle. Top with about two tablespoons of the sausage mixture. Repeat for a few and roll them up. Arrange seam side down in your prepared pan and continue until the rest of your noodles are filled.

Spoon sauce over the tops of the noodle rolls and sprinkle with remaining mozarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and cheese has melted. Let cool 5 – 10 minutes before serving.

*Normally, I mince everything with a knife, but for the sake of speed and how fine a mince I wanted on the artichoke mix, I used a ‘chopper’. One of those hand held smack it and it chops mechanisms.

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