That being said, there are lots of good things I’ve learned as a grownup.

• Making my daughter guffaw makes my heart happy
• Eating around the table with loved ones is worth a pile of dirty dishes.
• There are superheroes in every day life, like my husband who quietly shovels our neighbor’s drive when he thinks no one is looking.

And now… thanks to the tiny country called San Marino… I’ve finally learned that I can have the best of two worlds: lasagna and cinnamon rolls.  The dish is called Nidi di Rondine, or Swallow’s Nests. Think fresh sheets of pasta spiraled like a cinnamon bun, but layered with bechamel sauce, cheese, and ham (and a pinch of nutmeg). Then the whole shebang is baked on a bed of more bechamel sauce, under a sprinkling of Parmesan, for an ultra creamy casserole.

Ingredients: 

1/2 batch Homemade pasta dough, or store-bought sheets of fresh lasagna

Bechamel sauce:

2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/8 tsp nutmeg
salt

Filling:

8-10 oz thin Ham slices
8-10 oz very thin cheese slices (like emmentalier or mozarella)

1/2 cup parmesan to spoon on top of each nest
2-3 Tbsp olive oil

Method:

Let’s go to a special castle in San Marino, where the swallows swoop and gentle breezes tuft along the mountainside. This is the perfect place for a daydream. A perfect place to make Nidi di Rondine, or Swallow’s Nests.

Can you see me waving from the window?

Start by making the homemade pasta. Set it aside to rest for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the bechamel: melt the butter in a pot. Whisk in the flour and nutmeg until completely combined, then whisk together with a little milk. Keep adding milk a little at a time until a smooth, thick sauce forms. Set aside.

Next, roll out the pasta dough into a large rectangle (remember we’re just using half a batch)…

My rectangle was about 14″x21″ or so (bigger is fine)

Top with half the bechamel sauce… then ham, then cheese.

Tip – use really thin slices of cheese…have the deli counter slice it for you.

P.S. This is what you do if you realize you don’t have enough ham and cheese slices… checkerboard it up!

But ideally, yours would be covered all over with cheese. Shredded cheese works, too.

Then roll up into a long tube. Freeze for about 30 minutes (this will make it so easy to slice). If you need to slice it in half to fit in your freezer, go for it.

Now we’re ready for the fun part.

Preheat the oven to 325F and oil a casserole liberally. Spoon in the remaining half of the bechamel sauce.

Remove the pasta roll from the freezer and slice to make individual nests. The best way to make them equal sized is to slice the roll in half, then half again, and so on.  (mine ended up being about 1 1/2 inches high).

Brush the sides with olive oil so they don’t stick to each other and then place, cut side up in the casserole. Top with 1/2-1 tsp grated Parmesan per spiral and bake at 325F for 45-50 min…

TIP: The less Parmesan you add to the spirals, the easier it will be to see their lovely design.