Spinach Lasagna — The Kugel Is in the Oven, and I Am Here

The week between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — the Days of Awe, the ten days of repentance, the period when you are supposed to examine your life and ask forgiveness from anyone you've wronged. I have been examining. I am not sure I have wronged anyone this year in any dramatic sense, but I have been impatient with Marvin on days when my patience was thin, and I have been short with David when he suggested things about Marvin's care that I didn't want to hear, and I have been privately angry at God for what is happening to my husband, though I understand that God is not a customer service department and my complaint is unlikely to be resolved.

Yom Kippur is Wednesday. I fast — I have always fasted, even the years when I was pregnant and the doctor said I shouldn't, though I modified the fast those years because I am religious but not reckless. The fast is not punishment. The fast is attention. You remove the distraction of food so you can focus on the soul, which is a concept I find both essential and impossible to define, like trying to describe the color blue to someone who has never seen it. I fast and I pray and I ask to be inscribed in the book of life, and I mean it every year, and this year I mean it more, because this year the book of life feels more precarious than it ever has.

Before Yom Kippur, I cook. This is the paradox of a Jewish holiday centered on not eating: the cooking beforehand is enormous. The pre-fast meal, the break-fast afterward. I make a kugel — noodle kugel, sweet — for the pre-fast dinner. I prepare the break-fast spread: bagels and lox and cream cheese and tomatoes and capers and a coffee cake and orange juice, everything ready to go the moment the sun sets and the shofar sounds and we can eat again. The preparation is an act of faith: you cook because you believe you will be hungry later. You cook because you believe there will be a later. You cook because cooking is what Ruth Feldman does when she is afraid, and I am afraid, and the kugel is in the oven, and the kitchen is warm, and I am here.

The kugel I described is sweet and eggy and built entirely from faith that the fast will end — but when I think about what to serve a table full of people who have been fasting since sundown, who are hungry in their bodies and tender in their souls, I want something layered and warm and substantial, something that takes time to build because the building is the point. This spinach lasagna is that dish for me: the noodles, the ricotta, the spinach folded in like a quiet prayer, the whole thing sliding into the oven while the afternoon light goes golden and we wait. It feeds everyone. It asks very little of the people eating it except that they sit down.

Spinach Lasagna

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Servings: 9

Ingredients

• 12 lasagna noodles
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 (10 oz) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed very dry
• 1 (15 oz) container whole-milk ricotta cheese
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 cups marinara sauce, divided
• 2 1/2 cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese, divided
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 375°F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions until just al dente. Drain, lay flat on a lightly oiled baking sheet, and set aside.
2. Sauté the garlic. In a small skillet over medium heat, warm olive oil. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute until fragrant but not browned. Remove from heat.
3. Make the filling. In a large bowl, combine the squeezed spinach, ricotta, eggs, sautéed garlic, nutmeg, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir until uniform. Fold in 1/2 cup of the mozzarella and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan.
4. Layer the lasagna. Spread 3/4 cup marinara across the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish. Lay 3 noodles over the sauce. Spread one-third of the spinach-ricotta filling evenly over the noodles. Spoon 3/4 cup marinara over the filling and sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella. Repeat the layers twice more: noodles, filling, marinara, mozzarella.
5. Finish the top. Place the final 3 noodles over the last layer. Spread the remaining marinara over the top noodles. Scatter the remaining mozzarella and all remaining Parmesan evenly across the surface.
6. Bake covered. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes, until heated through and bubbling at the edges.
7. Bake uncovered. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, until the cheese on top is melted, golden in spots, and beginning to crisp at the edges.
8. Rest before serving. Remove from the oven and let the lasagna rest, uncovered, for at least 10 minutes before cutting. This allows the layers to set so each slice holds together on the plate.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 395 | Protein: 23g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 40g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 710mg