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5/12/09

Olive Garden's Lasagna Rollatini with Chicken


Lasagna Rolls
1 lb lasagna noodle
1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 (10 ounce) box frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed, minus 3 tbs for sauce
2 cups Kraft Italian five cheese blend (mozzarella, provolone, romano, asiago, and parmesan cheeses) minus 1/2 cup for sauce
2 eggs, wisked
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon oregano
salt and pepper

Sauce
1 head roasted garlic, large, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 tablespoon flour
16 ounces half-and-half
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup reserved Kraft Italian five cheese blend
1 roma tomato, diced
3 tablespoons reserved spinach
1 tablespoon parsley
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Putting rolls together:
Heat spinach in unopened box in microwave for couple minutes until warm. Remove spinach from box and squeeze all the water from the spinach. I used my lemon/lime hand press to press all the water out. You want the spinach very dry or it will water down the sauce too much. Don't forget to remove 3 tablespoons for sauce.

Roasting your garlic: Cut enough top off that all cloves are exposed, remove just the very outside skin, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Boil noodles while garlic is roasting.

While garlic is roasting and noodles are boiling: In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, add seasonings and whisk. Add ricotta cheese, Italian cheese and spinach with the egg and seasonings and stir until combined.

Lay cooked noodle on a clean surface. Spread a thin layer of cheese mixture down the length of the noodle,do not spread all the way to edges. Roll noodle loosely and place seam down in a lightly sprayed 9x13 baking dish. Repeat until all noodles are stuffed and rolled. Do not let rolls touch each other. I ended up with 12 rolls.

Sauce:
Squeeze garlic head until the roasted cloves pop out of the individual clove's skin. Dice.

Dice tomatoes.

In medium sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add roasted garlic and saute a couple minutes, being sure not to burn.

Add butter. Once melted, mix in flour, making a roux, cooking for 1 minute.
Whisk in white wine, cook for 2 minutes to allow alcohol to burn off. Whisk in half and half cream until velvety smooth.

Add the cheese, whisking until melted and smooth. Then whisk in spinach, whisking until spinach is broke up throughout sauce. Gently stir in tomatoes.

Season with salt and pepper and add parsley. Let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Pour over lasagna rolls, cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. Uncover and cook 10-15 minutes longer or until sauce is bubbling.

While rolls are in oven, saute boneless/skinless chicken strips seasoned with salt & pepper in olive oil in a skillet until done. I cut my strips into 3 narrow strips to cook faster.

To plate: Place one roll on plate, spoon sauce over roll. Place 2-3 strips of chicken on side.

The next time I make this, I am going to fix shrimp instead of chicken!

8 comments:

  1. That looks wonderful! Before I got to the end, I was thinking of making it with shrimp, too!

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  2. Oh I have to try making this dish. It sounds so yummy.

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  3. Oh my, that looks amazing!

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  4. This was amazing! We used shrimp and added some alfredo sauce on top when we baked it for 10 minutes uncovered. It was EXCELLENT!

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  5. If I were to make this again I would use less Oregano. IMO recipe calls for too much of it.

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  6. Thanks so much for posting this! I had jaw reconstruction surgery and was just DYING to try this as I saw the commercials every day I sat watching TV with my mouth wired shut. Now that I'm unwired and going to Olive Garden next week, the darn meal isn't on the menu any more!! Doesn't it figure?? I'm going to make this over the weekend. Again, thanks so much!

    Just an FYI... the Sargento 6-cheese Italian blend is TERRIFIC!

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  7. This was awesome!! I ate it at Olive Garden in May and found this receipt and made it a few weeks back and it was awesome!! making it again tonight but with Shrimp!...I also make the sauce for Alfredo instead of using alfredo sauce!! I like it much better....

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  8. This was wonderful! Just like the Olive Garden's except that the sauce recipe should be doubled. By the time the dish had baked in the oven, the sauce was almost gone. I had to make additional sauce for our left-over lasagne rolls. Otherwise - Terrific!

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