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HIGHLIGHTS
Recipe Highlights
Appetizers > Tapas
Fresh Lasagna "Coils" filled with a Sausage, Spinach, Garlic Mixture
Alright, first off... I need to address the name. Yes, these are Lasagna Roll Ups, but for the love o' God, I can NOT put a recipe in my book, with the word "GOURMET" in its title... and title it "roll ups". No, just no. So thanks to my good friend Google, I found that in Italian, "il Rotolo" means "to coil" or "to roll" as in rolling something up, SO... Lasagna il Rotolo.
This appetizer is like no lasagna roll up that you've ever made. These are light, delicate, delicious flavor explosions. This recipe utilizes my method for making low point, fresh pasta (Download THAT guide here) as well as my 0 point Italian Sausage recipe, which can be found in my Meat Seasoning Guide. In order to make this appetizer, you need to make a batch of my low point pasta dough, as described in the pasta guide, and roll out 1 of the 1/4 cup pasta dough sections, into a pasta sheet, as shown in the guide.
I always make it a huge part of my cooking, to always, always, always try and only use ingredients or tools that most of you have access to, or could get for cheap. None of my recipes will call for organic bee polin crystals from Madagascar, or Free Range, Vegan, Soy foam from Okinawa. I try to limit everything I make, to only using ingredients that you can get at your local walmart or grocery store. Hence why I don't even use "trade joes" brand ingredients. My ONE exception to this rule of only using simple ingredients... is Pasta. I am the poster child proponent for begging people to use FRESH MADE PASTA, because if you make it my way, it's lower in points and calories. I will NEVER use store bought pasta for anything. Sorry.
Another thing... in this recipe, I have my first write up of the Marinara sauce that I've been using for months now. I am not joking when I tell you that it's freaking awesome, and only takes 5 minutes to make. Go ahead and gasp, but have I ever steered you wrong before? I'm a busy freakin dad with 2 disabled toddlers and a full slate o' therapies for them. I don't have time to make a traditional Marinara, but I figured out how to hack the heck out of one. In 5 minutes you can have some bada** depth of flavor. In a medium pan I crank up the heat and toss in the diced onion, roasted garlic cloves (made as described in my low point cooking guide), dried herbs, red wine vinegar and chicken broth. Within 1 minute it's boiling. After 3 minutes, the boiling broth has broken down the roasted garlic and onions, permeated the dried basil and oregano, so you're now left with a concentrated savory italian flavor bomb at the bottom of your pot. Pour in the tomato sauce and puree it in a blender or with an immersion blender... and let it simmer for 1-2 minutes. Done. It will taste like a Marinara that you've had simmering for an hour, and it's taken you less time than the commercial break for The Bachelor.
This is appetizer #12 of 20, from my upcoming second cookbook and free download
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