Spinach, Pesto & Fontina Lasagna

Sauce:

• 2 Tbs (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt

Spinach:

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
• 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 6oz packages baby spinach

Lasagna:

• 15 no-boil lasagna noodles
• 3 1/2 cups fresh ricotta cheese (28 oz)
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon peel
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups coarsely grated Italian Fontina cheese (8 to 9 ounces), divided
•  
• Herb Pesto

For sauce: 
Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk 1 minute (do not brown). Add milk and wine and whisk until smooth. Cook until sauce thickens and comes to boil, whisking constantly, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in Parmesan cheese and salt. Season sauce to taste with pepper. DO AHEAD: Sauce can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

For spinach: 
Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic. Sauté until shallots soften, about 2 minutes. Add all spinach (pot will be full). Cook spinach until wilted but still bright green, tossing often, about 3 minutes. Using tongs, transfer spinach to large sieve set over bowl; reserve pot. Press out excess liquid from spinach. Drain 10 to 15 minutes longer.

Return drained liquid from spinach to reserved pot. Boil until liquid is reduced to glaze. Return spinach to pot and toss 1 minute. Remove spinach from heat. Mix in 1 1/2 cups sauce. Season spinach to taste with pepper.

For lasagna: 
1) Place noodles in large bowl. Fill bowl with hot tap water. Soak noodles until pliable, stirring occasionally to separate, about 15 minutes. Place large sheet of parchment paper on work surface. Transfer noodles to parchment in single layer, shaking off excess water.

2) Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13 x 9 x 2- inch glass baking dish. Mix ricotta, Parmesan, and lemon peel in medium bowl. Season to taste with salt. Mix in egg.

3) Spread 1/2 cup sauce thinly over bottom of prepared dish. Top with 3 noodles, arranged side by side and covering most of bottom of dish. Spread half of spinach mixture over (about 1 1/2 cups). Sprinkle with 1/3 cup Fontina. Top with 3 noodles and half of ricotta mixture (generous 1 3/4 cups). Drop half of pesto over by teaspoonfuls, spacing drops evenly apart. Continue layering with 3 noodles, remaining spinach mixture, 1/3 cup Fontina, 3 more noodles, remaining ricotta mixture, then remaining pesto. Top with last 3 noodles. Spread remaining sauce over; sprinkle with remaining Fontina. Cover dish with buttered foil.

4) Bake lasagna until heated through and bubbling at edges, 50 to 55 minutes. Remove from oven. Remove foil from dish.

5) Preheat broiler. Broil lasagna until top is browned in spots, turning dish occasionally for even browning, about 4 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes to set up.

Review:  What a mess!  Fontina doesn't exist in our area.  So, I subbed a bag of mozzarella and Parmesan mix.  I also didn't make the pesto, as I had some in the fridge.  And, I failed to fully read the instructions and only boiled three (not five) layers of lasagna.  Crud.  So, my top two layers are pasta-less.  Therefore, it was a soupy, oily mess.  And, this is without the spinach water that I poured down the drain, before reading that I needed to keep it!!  So, I made lots of errors in making this recipe.  I blame the fact that the recipe is organized oddly (and I couldn't organize it in a better manner for my blog purposes!) and I kept getting lost in the directions.  But, I figured it was lasagna, which I assume to be impossible to ruin.  Well, this lasagna wasn't exactly ruined, but I wouldn't recommend making it the way I did.  It didn't have very much flavor, had too much ricotta and was very oily.  I'd probably half the ricotta, mix the pesto (made with less oil) into the ricotta mix for easier spreading, and combine the layers.  I'd recommend three layers, one being all of the spinach mixture and one being the ricotta/pesto layer.  Top (third layer) with sauce and cheese.  Much easier!  And, use fontina, I'm sure it would have really *made* the recipe!