How To: Make Penne Lasagna with Hubert Keller

This penne lasagna dish, prepared and cooked by Chef Hubert Keller, is easy to make the night before and is sure to please everyone with its rich, Italian flavors.

Ingredients

• ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 8 ounces part-skim ricotta
• ½ pound part-skim mozzarella, shredded, ½ cup reserved for topping
• 2/3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 ounces white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
• ½ pound frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained until very dry*
• ½ large onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• ¼ pound ground turkey
• 2 cans (8 ounces each) diced tomatoes, juices drained, divided
• 8 ounces tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• 6 ounces mini penne (or other small tubular pasta) par-cooked 5 minutes (until barely cooked),
• drained and cooled
• cooking spray

Instructions

1. Combine Parmesan, ricotta and all but ½ cup of the mozzarella. Reserve.
2. Heat a Cuisinart 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium high-heat; add 1 teaspoon oil and sauté mushrooms until golden brown. Season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Mix with drained spinach. Reserve.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon oil; sauté onions and garlic until soft, about five minutes. Set aside.
4. In the same skillet, heat 1 teaspoon oil and brown the ground turkey; transfer to bowl with onions. Stir in 1 cup of the diced tomatoes and the remaining salt and pepper. Reserve.
5. Combine tomato sauce, remaining diced tomatoes, basil and oregano; stir into pasta.
6. Lightly coat the interior of the ceramic pot of the Cuisinart Slow Cooker with cooking spray.
7. Using 1/3 of the pasta mixture, make a layer on the bottom of the ceramic pot. Spread meat mixture evenly over pasta. Cover with ½ the cheese mixture.
8. Make a second layer of pasta; top with spinach and mushroom mixture. Cover with remaining ricotta cheese mixture.
9. Make a final layer of pasta and top with reserved mozzarella. Cover and press the on/off button to turn the unit on.
10. Set time to 6 hours and press Low; slow cooker will automatically switch to Warm when cooking time has elapsed. 

Tip

• To drain spinach thoroughly, first squeeze out as much water as possible with your hands. Lay the spinach on a clean towel, roll up, and wring out the rest. You will end up with about ½ cup dry spinach that can then be mixed with the mushrooms.