I’ve seen a lot of recipes for spinach, vegetarian, classic and many other types of lasagna rolls. So I decided to make some for last night’s dinner. However, I wanted to give my Sunday dinner a little twist and spiciness, so once again I made a little crazy combination of my two favorite cuisines, Mexican and Italian and I came out with these Mexican Lasagna Rolls. They were not perfect, though. They need a little bit more work, but at least I have a list of things I will do differently next time.
Mexican Lasagna Rolls
Printable recipe
Makes 10 rolls
Prep time: 25-30 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Method: boiling, baking
For this recipe you will need:
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 3 minced garlic cloves
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 cup tomato puree
- 1 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp Italian herbs
- 1/2 cup red wine (I was out and used white wine instead)
- salt and pepper
- 2 poblano peppers, roasted, cleaned and cut in strips
- 1 lb queso fresco or any other moist and firm cheese
- Parmesan cheese or bread crumbs (optional for topping)
Preparation:
- In a saucepan saute onion and garlic over olive oil until translucent.
- Add ground turkey and cook until brown.
- Add spices, tomato and wine. Reduce heat to low, cover and let cook for 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning.
- Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C)
- In the mean time start rolling your lasagna noodles. Cut queso fresco in cubes and place on one end of a noodle along with a couple of poblano strips and roll. Place them in a baking dish
- When the sauce is ready pour it over lasagna rolls, top with Parmesan cheese or bread crumbs and bake for 25 minutes.
- Serve hot and enjoy.
About this recipe:
- Althoug I liked these rolls, I will make them differently next time. Maybe I will use the poblanos with a basic sauce such a bechamel, or some other kind of creamy sauce. But I will definitely keep the poblanos in the equation.
- The queso fresco was a very nice filling for the rolls. It doesn’t melt as fast as soft cheeses and the flavor combination of pasta with it was unique.
- I would also love to make these rolls with spinach. I just love pasta and spinach together.
- This can easily be made into a vegetarian dish. Just take the ground meat out of the picture and use tofu instead of cheese.
Buen provecho!
30 Replies
Ben, I too tried roll-ups and we probably encountered the same issues. Although mine were tasty, mine needed improvement on the presentation…they just didn’t look as nice as the photos in the recipes.
Your ingredients speak of Mexico and you have some heat in there with the Poblanos…a fine pepper!
Posted on April 14th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Great merge of cultures. I have to try the roll ups. I have some flat non ridged sheets begging for use.
Posted on April 14th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
These sound like great fun! I’m off to put some kind of Thai thing together for tonight.
Posted on April 14th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Ben,
Looks fantastic! Just had seafood enchiladas tonight but looks like this will be next. Love anything with poblanos.
Francie
Posted on April 14th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Lasagna rolls sound interesting. I have been wanting to try making them for a while now. These Mexican inspired lasagna rolls sound really tasty!
Posted on April 14th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
You are definitely the king of fusion cuisine. This is great Ben. Mmmm…that poblano pepper would certainly give a nice kick. Nice flavours.
Posted on April 14th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
These rolls are just so versatile Ben. I’m sure they tasted wonderful:D
Posted on April 14th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Ben your cooking is awesome.
I know that I’ve said this before, nevertheless, I’ll say it again. I love the look and feel of your new blog design.
Posted on April 14th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
great idea! looks good to me
Posted on April 14th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I like how neat and orderly the lasagna rolls are, the presentation is more appealing to me then traditional layered lasagna. Any recipe that contains wine and can be vegetarian makes me happy
I just sent you an e-mail with my Tamale Open submission!
Posted on April 15th, 2008 at 1:04 am
I like your take on Lasagna! you could start a whole new trend here
Posted on April 15th, 2008 at 1:53 am
This recipe is very interesting. I like the idea of rolled lasagna noodles. Are your noodles homemade or do you buy these? I am not sure if I can find them here but I can make them. About tofu I don’t know what it is or how it tastes but the ground turkey or spinach are a nice choice.
Posted on April 15th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Mmm- great idea. These look wonderful.
I’m thinking it might be interesting to forego the Italian spices altogether and make it more of a salsa sauce? I’m with you 100% on the spinach~ YUM!
Posted on April 15th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
those look fantastic! What a great culture combo! I like the idea that TW had of using salsa as well. YUM!
Posted on April 15th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
I like the whole fusion idea – who knows – a new invention could take the blogging world by storm. Ithink they look fine – you’d have no argument from me just as long as you threw in a Corona (my very favorite beer)
Posted on April 15th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Hi Ben,
I love your blog and recipes. I listed your blog in this directory.
Your readers and fans can vote for you by giving you a star here.
Thanks,
Khunying
Posted on April 15th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Hola Ben! Nice spread!!! It looks super-apetitoso!!! I’m always ready for pasta… if it has your Mexican touch, then it gets near perfection
Posted on April 16th, 2008 at 7:42 am
They look really delicious. I love pasta.
Love the idea of doing the filling with the roasted pepers.
Posted on April 16th, 2008 at 8:55 am
I have seen lasagna rolls before, but never with a Mexican twist! What a great recipe!
Posted on April 16th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
interesting idea to make them mexican. its funny how many of us are making these rolls lately! i’ve had a couple people on flickr & in person tell me they made my spinach ones recently too. is it a lasagna roll craze?!
Posted on April 16th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Something new to me. Have never tried it before. Should be similar taste to the Italian lasagna?
Fruity
Posted on April 16th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
these sound & look good, I love pasta
Posted on April 16th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Ben, those rolls look so perfect..wonder how you come up with such great ideas..they look awesome!..
Posted on April 17th, 2008 at 12:19 am
Love the spicy twist Ben. These look scrumptious…I think a veggie version with spinach & cottage cheese would be delicious. YUM!!
Posted on April 17th, 2008 at 5:58 am
Am back again with an award for you Arimou…
http://passionateaboutbaking.blogspot.com/2008/04/malted-oat-pistachio-cookies-distinct.html
Cheers :0)
Posted on April 17th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Excellent! I love the use of poblano peppers it in. I also like that the sauce isn’t heavy, which is why I typically don’t eat much of regular lasagna.
Posted on April 17th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
That looks great! You’re combining my two favorite cuisines.
Don’t yell at me, but….I still haven’t tried queso fresco.
Posted on April 18th, 2008 at 3:47 am
Nicely done Ben!
I made some lasagna rolls a couple of weeks ago. I used hot Italian sausage in a spinach, ricotta, mozzerella mixture. The sauce was a three cheese bechemel. They were sooooo rich. I tried to eat two but couldn’t.
I think we’ll try your take on the next attempt. Maybe using the queso fresco con jalapeno as the sauce?
Posted on April 18th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Another scrumptious recipe! I think Italian and Mexican were made for each other — especially in lasagne roll ups. I haven’t had them in years.
Posted on April 18th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I like those kind of combination, is always an adventure of new tastes
Wonderful creation
Posted on April 19th, 2008 at 6:33 am
Leave a reply