Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna

For the tomato sauce:
In a skillet on medium heat, saute garlic in olive oil for 1 minute, being careful not to burn the garlic. Lower heat and add tomatoes, chicken broth, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and add chopped basil. Set aside

For the white sauce:
Warm the milk in the microwave for one minute. Set aside.

In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk continuously for 2 minutes. Slowly add the warmed milk while continuing to whisk. Add salt to taste. Reduce heat to low and continue to whisk until creamy, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. If you don’t whisk and cook for the 8 minutes, you’ll end up with a raw flour taste.

To make the filling:

In a skillet over medium/high heat melt butter. Add onion and cook until until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Don’t burn garlic! Add the drained spinach and cook with onion and garlic for a couple of minutes to incorporate the flavors. Remove from heat, set aside and cool to room temperature.

In separate bowl, combine ricotta, eggs, Parmesan cheese and 1 teaspoon of salt.

When spinach is cooled, combine with the ricotta mixture, mix well.

For the assembly:

In a 9×13 pan: Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce on bottom of pan. Cover pan with one layer of noodles. I use three noodles laying side by side (the space in between the noodles will fill in once it’s cooked).

Cover noodles with 1/3 of spinach filling. Spread evenly. Spread the top of that with more tomato sauce (about 3/4 cup) and 1/2 cup of cream sauce. Sprinkle 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese.

Add another layer of noodles. Repeat these layers two more times until you have three layers. The top layer will be noodles topped with tomato sauce and sprinkled with mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 350 F for about 30-45 minutes until bubbly. Remove it from the oven and allow it to set up for a few minutes. It’s best if it sits at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before serving.