Butternut squash was crazy on sale about a month ago at Sprouts/ Henry’s, so I did the rational thing and bought like seven of them. Luckily I came across this recipe in Martha Stewart Living for butternut squash lasagna. It really is perfect because Boyfriend loves lasagna (but I rarely make it because it takes about 6 hours) and I have all these squash to use! I followed the recipe for the most part, but did make some minor changes based on laziness.
What you need:
- One butternut squash, about 3-4 lbs
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper
- At least one pound ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 eggs
- 2-3 cups of grated mozzarella
- A tablespoon or two of nutmeg
- minced garlic, to taste (I used about a tablespoon, maybe a bit more)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup loosely packed sage leaves, chopped
- 1 1/4 cups chicken stock
- Lasagna noodles
- Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top
What to do:
- Preheat oven to 425. Peel and cut up the squash into one inch pieces.
- Toss or spray with olive oil. Sprinkle with pepper. Spread out on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.
- Reduce oven to 375.
- Combine ricotta, eggs, cream, mozzarella, nutmeg, garlic and a pinch or two of salt.
Cheesy mixture
- When the squash is done roasting, or has a few minutes left, melt the butter in a large sauce pan. When the butter is fully melted, add the chopped sage. Stirring constantly, cook the sage & butter over medium heat until the butter becomes very yellow, about 4-5 minutes.
Not quite yellow enough yet
- If you have a sous-chef, like I happen to last night, have them do this step while you are working on the sage & butter. Soak about half a pack of uncooked lasagna noodles in hot tap water in a shallow dish. After 3-4 minutes take them out of the water. They should still be pretty stiff.
- Add the squash and chicken stock to the sauce pan with the sage and butter. Mash most of the squash and stir thoroughly.
- Assemble the lasagna in a 9×13 baking dish, in this order: Layer of noodles, layer of butternut squash (about 1/3 to half of the mixture depending on how many layers you want), layer of cheese mixture. Repeat until you run out of squash and cheese. Top the entire thing with a generous layer of Parmesan cheese.
Bad representation of the layers
- Bake for 35 minutes. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before serving, unless you want to burn your face off.
Delicious!
The end result was very good, perfect for a chilly night. It was WAY less time consuming that normal lasagna (if you make your own sauce, as I do), so it’s much more appropriate for a weeknight dinner.
