Thursday, February 23, 2012

Butternut Squash Lasagna


 Lasagna is one of my favorite comfort foods. It's cheesy, full of carbs and if you're lucky, it might come with garlic bread. Not too long ago, I had butternut squash lasagna for the first time and fell in love. It was a totally new take on lasagna, but still held on to my favorite ingredients, cheese and pasta.

So, I decided to try making it! I also wanted a reason to use my new ramekins. This recipe is for two 16 ounce ramekins. You'll have plenty of leftover squash if you cook all of it; I'm planning on using mine to make soup!


You need:
1 1/2 cups cubed  butternut squash
6 lasagna noodles
walnuts 
1 cup ricotta cheese
5 tablespoon pesto
handful of spinach
1/4 cup of chicken broth
1/4 cup of milk
2 tablespoon heavy cream
clove of garlic
olive oil
salt & pepper
rosemary
oregano

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Put cubed butternut squash in a pan, and add olive oil to coat. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Turn to medium heat, add water and cover. Let cook for about 20 minutes or until tender.
3. While squash is cooking, mix ricotta cheese, pesto and spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste and 2 tablespoons of milk. Set aside.
4. Place lasagna noodles in boiling water, and cook until almost al dente. Set aside.
5. Once squash is tender, remove from pan and place into blender. Add garlic, milk, chicken broth, heavy cream, 1 tsp of rosemary and 1 tsp of oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth.
6. Oil ramekins with olive oil.
7. Put a small amount of squash puree to cover the bottom, and then a layer of lasagna noodles. You will need to tear the noodles in order to fit your ramekin.
8. Place a thick layer of ricotta mixture on noodles, followed by squash puree, followed with another layer of noodles.
9. Add walnuts to one of the layers (doesn't really matter which). Don't chop them too small! You want some good walnut texture.
10. On the last layer of noodles, cover with squash puree. Cover with foil and cook for 20-25 minutes.
11. Uncover and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Let cook for another 5 minutes or until melted. Enjoy!



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