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two compact lasagna rolls with red tomato sauce and softly melted mozzarella on an ordinary plate, one sliced across to reveal a clearly visible snail-shell spiral of several thin pale pasta-sheet turns alternating with fine Italian sausage crumbles, finely chopped roasted broccoli and white ricotta, with pasta winding through the center rather than a hollow tube around one solid core of filling, without garnish
Andre Lewis

Crockpot Lasagna Roll-Ups with Sausage and Broccoli

Choose flexible fresh lasagna sheets for these rolls, since dry oven-ready sheets aren’t meant to bend around a filling. Roast the broccoli until its surface is dry and chop it small enough that the rolls close without bulges. Sausage and ricotta hold the filling together, and the sauce only needs to surround the fresh pasta rather than hydrate a thick stack of dried sheets. Let the rolls settle before lifting them with a wide spoon so the seam stays underneath each serving.
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Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 35 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 8 oz broccoli florets chopped into small pieces
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp fine salt
  • 12 oz mild Italian pork sausage casings removed
  • 1 cup whole-milk ricotta
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 8 flexible fresh refrigerated lasagna sheets about 4 by 6 inches each and 8 oz total, ready to layer without boiling
  • 3 cups plain tomato passata
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp butter for the cooker
  • 4 oz low-moisture mozzarella shredded

Method
 

  1. Heat oven to 425°F. Toss broccoli with oil and salt on a sheet pan and roast for 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned and dry at the edges, then cool for 5 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, brown sausage in a skillet over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, breaking it finely, until 160°F. Drain excess fat and cool briefly, then mix with broccoli, ricotta, egg and pepper.
  3. Let fresh lasagna sheets stand at room temperature for 10 minutes if needed to become flexible. Divide filling evenly over the sheets, leaving a 1/2-inch border, and roll from a short edge to make eight compact rolls.
  4. Mix passata, water, garlic and oregano. Butter a 6-quart slow cooker, spread 3/4 cup sauce over the bottom and arrange four rolls seam side down; add half the remaining sauce and half the mozzarella.
  5. Add the other four rolls in a second layer, cover with remaining sauce and mozzarella and cover the cooker. Cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, checking after 90 minutes, until the pasta is tender and the centers reach 165°F.
  6. Switch off and rest uncovered for 10 minutes. Lift carefully and serve two rolls per person with their sauce; do not preboil the fresh sheets.