Spinach & Ricotta Casserole. Creamy, tasty, comforting. This is one of my kids’ favorite. It’s creamy and cheesy. This is also a great recipe to offer spinach to your kiddos. The bechamel sauce embraces the ricotta and spinach balls in a delicious way. The ham and provolone on top contribute to the tasty flavor.
It’s a great make ahead recipe. Easy to make and perfect to freeze. Great for dinner but also for family gatherings.
You can prepare everything all at one, it takes a good hour total, or you can prepare ahead the spinach and Béchamel sauce and assemble everything in 20 minutes. It’s a flexible recipe.
Ready?
PROCEDURE
We start from the spinach balls.
Blanch the spinach in boiling water for 4 min. Drain and let the spinach cool down a bit, then squeeze out the extra water and transfer in a bowl. Cut the spinach roughly with a scissor. You can also use a kitchen knife on a cutting board, I find the scissors faster and easier to clean. 🙂
In the bowl, add the ricotta cheese, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan, nutmeg and 1 tsp sea salt. Mix well. You will obtain a dense creamy mix.
In a small bowl add the flour. Prepare a baking dish coated with 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp breadcrumbs. Take 1 Tbsp of the spinach mix and form a ball with your hands, roll it in the flour to nicely coat it.
Place the spinach ball in the baking dish and keep adding one ball next to the other to cover the whole surface.
Cover the spinach balls with the ham slices first and the provolone cheese on top.
Prepare the Béchamel sauce.
In a saucepan melt the butter at low heat. Add the flour and whisk quickly to form a creamy silky dough (it’s called roux). Remove from the heat. Slowly add the room temperature milk whisking continuously not to form any grain. Once all the milk is added, place the saucepan back on the stove at medium heat and keep whisking for around 5/7 min up until you will see that the cream will start thickening. Add the sea salt and nutmeg. The Bechamel should be creamy, not too thick. Check the video to see how it should look.
Pour the bechamel sauce on top of the spinach balls to form an uniform top layer.
Sprinkle 3 Tbsp breadcrumbs and 4 Tbsp parmesan cheese on top.
Bake in the preheated oven to 400F for 40min up until a lovely golden crust will be formed.
Enjoy!!
HOW TO SUBSTITUTE SPINACH?
Instead of spinach, you can use Swiss chards or even bok choi (the green leaves only).
CAN I USE FROZEN SPINACH?
Yes, not a problem at all!
CAN I SKIP THE HAM?
If you do not eat pork, you can switch the ham with turkey or just skip it at all.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY OTHER SPINACH RECIPES?
- Spinach Almond Waffles – Gluten and Grain Free +6M
- Green Grissini Bread with Spinach
- Frankenstein spinach and kale pie
- Baked Kale Spinach balls
- Ricotta and spinach Cannelloni for kids
- Turkey breast roast stuffed w/ pancetta spinach frittata – Thanksgiving
- Creamy Spinach and Zucchini Barley Soup – easy week night meal
- Pasta with squash and spinach
- Green Stars – Baby Pasta with Spinach
- Spinach and Wild Cod Italian Mix
- 700 ml Bechamel sauce (see separate list below)
- 200 gr ham, sliced (7oz)
- 200 gr provolone cheese, sliced (7oz)
- 5 Tbsp breadcrumbs
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 4 Tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
- 700 gr. spinach (two 12oz bags)
- 500 gr. ricotta cheese 15oz
- 2 medium eggs
- 4 Tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
- 8 Tbsp breadcrumbs
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tsp 1 tsp sea salt
- 500 ml milk
- 100 gr butter
- 100 gr flour
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
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Blanch the spinach in boiling water for 4 min. Drain. Let the spinach cool down a bit, than squeeze out the extra water.
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Transfer the spinach in a bowl. Cut the spinach roughly with a scissor.
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Add the ricotta cheese, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmesan, nutmeg and 1 tsp sea salt. Mix well.
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Add the flour in a small bowl. Prepare a baking dish coated with 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp breadcrumbs.
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Take 1 Tbsp of the spinach mix and form a ball, roll it in the flour to nicely coat it. Place the spinach ball in the baking dish and keep adding one ball next to the other to cover the whole surface.
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Cover the spinach balls with the ham slices first and the provolone cheese on top.
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Prepare the Béchamel sauce. In a saucepan melt the butter at low heat. Add the flour and whisk quickly to form a creamy silky dough. Remove from the heat. Slowly add the milk at room temperature whisking continuously not to form grain. When you added all the milk, place the saucepan back on the flames at medium and keep whisking for around 5/7 min up until you will see that the cream will start thickening. Add the sea salt and nutmeg. The Bechamel should be creamy, not too thick. Check the video to see how it should look.
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Pour the bechamel sauce on top of the spinach balls to form an uniform top layer.Sprinkle 3 Tbsp breadcrumbs and 4 Tbsp parmesan cheese on top.
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Bake in the preheated oven to 400F for 40min up until a lovely golden crust will be formed. Enjoy!!
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