How can I get all the water out of my spinach so it doesn't spoil my lovely lasagne?

[TooTiredToArgue]

Hello all

Cooked myself this www.mumsnet.com/Recipes/i/1353-Scrummy-spinach-lasagne for supper tonight, but even though i squeezed as much water as I could out of the spinach, the end result was disappointingly watery. Still tasty, but the consistency was not what I'd hoped for.

Any tips out there to make sure this doesn't happen again? I used fresh spinach, by the way, and cooked in the microwave as per the instructions.

Tia

When I add spinach to pasta sauces, I don't cook the spinach fully before squeezing out the water & chopping. Depending on how I feel, I either simply pour boiling water over the spinach to wilt it or just do it for 30secs/1min in the microwave, rather than the full time. Then I squeeze out all the water I can using a clean tea towel or kitchen roll, before chopping it up.

You might find this helps?! I've never put it in a lasagne though, so am not an expert!!

Thanks, Joyce. Perhaps I cooked the spinach for too long and that made it extra watery? Will try the boiling water method next time, good idea.

Don't cook the spinach - I never do in a lasagne that I make which is very similar. Just VERY roughly chop and mix in as per the recipe and it shouldn't be watery at all.

My friend puts the whole bag into the freezer. When needed she just crumbles it into her recipe with one hand. It very conveniently crumbles into small pieces so no chopping or squeezing needed.

I think the microwave makes it more wet - I wash it then leave to drain as much water as possible in a colander, then wilt in a wok or big pan in batches. Leave to drain again, press out as much water as possible then put in a teatowel and squeeze again.

I've never used that recipe, but if the spinach is too watery, I'd be tempted to do it slightly differently.

Instead of chopping the spinach and microwaving it for 1 minute (which is a lot of cooking for chopped spinach), I'd mix the cheeses as suggested but cook the spinach, whole, separately.

Wash the spinach and drain as much of the water off as possible, then put the spinach in a large pan over a high heat, stirring all the time, till it is just starting to wilt. This will probably take only 30-40 seconds. Then drain in a large sieve/colander, then on kitchen towel.

When you're assembling the lasagne, put a layer of wilted spinach down, and then the cheese mixture on top of that.

Never add any water to spinach when cooking , just let the heat wilt it....tbh, I always buy frozen ready chopped spinach as I can't be arsedwashing the muck of fresh stuff.
Then wilt it for about a minute and if necessary squeeeeeeeeeeze any excess liquid through a teatowel.

I agree don't cook it just chop it up and let the heat of the cooking wilt it into submission.

Just a tip from Delia I use wrt to squeezing water out of cabbage actually but I guess you could use it on any leafy type veg. Drain into a colander, put a small saucer or plate on top and press down hard as you can .