We made Run Fast. Eat Slow. Marathon Lasagna for some carby nourishment before our last tough 20 miler of this training cycle. This dish makes about 10 servings and we enjoyed leftovers for a couple nights. The recipe calls for ground turkey, but I don’t see there being any issues with eliminating the ground turkey for a vegetarian option. What we loved most about the lasagna is the addition of sweet potatoes, making it a really great meal before a marathon or long run. Here’s the recipe from Run Fast. Eat Slow. By: Shalane Flanagan & Elyse Kopecky.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (we didn’t have!)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
6 cups marinara sauce
1 pound no-boil lasagna noodles
1 bag (12 ounces) baby spinach
2 cups mashed cooked sweet potato
1 container (16 ounces) whole milk ricotta
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced (we used grated)
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Place a 13×9.x2 inch baking sheet on top of a rimmed baking sheet.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the turkey, garlic, oregano. fennel. red pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the turkey is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the marinara sauce and simmer over low heat while preparing the remaining ingredients.
- In a large skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat and cook the spinach with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt until wilted, about 3 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, combine the sweet potato, ricotta, eggs and black pepper.
- In the bottom of the baking dish, spread 1 1/2 cups of the meat sauce and top with a layer of 5 noodles. Spread half the sweet potato mixture over the noodles and top with all of the spinach. Start another layer with 1 1/2 cups of the sauce, then half the mozzarella slices, 5 noodles, and the remaining sweet potato mixture. Top with another 1 1/2 cups sauce. the remaining mozzarella slices, and finally the parmesan.
- Cover the dish with foil. Bake in the center of the oven on top of the baking sheet (to catch any drippings) for 25-30 minutes. If you made the meat sauce and sweet potatoes in advance and they were added cold, bake an extra 15 minutes. Remove the foil and make until golden and bubbling, 10-15 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes prior to serving and slicing. —> We can attest to the fact that cooling is helpful. This hungry runner was a bit too anxious and our servings didn’t appear as appetizing as they were.
