Recipe: Butternut Squash Lasagna

A recipe from the Lady of the House for the post today. Decided to post this since for our communal birthday party we did a local or home made food potluck party. When we hosted the party many people commented about the lasagna being vegetarian, and being doubtful about it. Yet at the end of the party almost all of it was gone. This as recipes goes is fairly easy and tastes great. Though you do need to make sure that you cut the cheese quite thin or it'll be uneven. The Lady of the House goes into the recipe, and what prompted it below.

I've been studying a lot about nutrition lately and realized I wasn't getting the amount of veggies I need and (like most Americans) was eating way too much meat. I've been trying to cook mostly vegetarian dishes now, with white meat here and there. I made an awesome vegetarian lasagna so I'd put it here to share.


It's made with two large butternut squashes. I recommend saving the seeds for roasting, they taste much like pumpkin seeds, so there's a segue in the recipe for it. You can always disregard.

Smoky Butternut Squash Lasagna, Mish-Style.
Ingredients:
Squash Filling
    2 tablespoons minced Sage
    2 tablespoons olive oil
    3 garlic cloves, minced (less if your not a garlic fiend like me >.>)
    1 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon pepper
    2 1 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-1/2inch cubes (don't aim for perfection)
    1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese


Cheese filling
    2 pounds part-skim ricotta cheese
    1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
    1/2 cup chopped shallots
    1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
    1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage


Assembling
Roasted Garlic tomato sauce (I used Newman's Own, if you grow tomatoes you probably can make your own)

9 lasagna noodles (you can go the no-boil route, I boiled mine)
8 ounces smoked Gouda cheese, thinly sliced (more is good, if you like gouda as 8 ounces is JUST enough to get a piece in each slice of lasagna but is subtle. First time I made it I used more)
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese (total for whole recipe is ~4 ounces, I recommend 2 3-ounce bags)
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Directions
For squash
Preheat to 400 degrees
In a large bowl, combine the sage, oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Add squash and toss to coat. 

Transfer to an ungreased shallow 2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 50-55 minutes or until squash is just tender. (it shrinks some as it cooks, and shrinks even more when in the lasagna, don't worry)


(at this point I lowered the temp to 275 and while i waited for the squash dish to cool I roasted the squash seeds. Pick clean, wash and pat the seeds dry then toss with a tablespoon of olive oil, a sprinkling of salt and rosemary, on a foiled cookie sheet, 15 minutes and boiled the noodles for 15 minutes on the stovetop)


Put oven to 375°F.


Mix ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan, shallots and rosemary in large bowl.


Oil 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish (I used the same dish I roasted the squash in so it was pre-oiled). Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce in dish. Arrange 3 lasagna noodles in single layer in dish. Spread half of ricotta mixture over noodles. Arrange half of squash mixture over. Squish the squash mixture a little flat so that you'll have room for more layers. Spoon generous 1 cup sauce over. Arrange half of gouda slices over sauce. Repeat layering 1 more time. Top with 3 lasagna noodles. Spread remaining sauce over. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup Parmesan. Cover tightly with lightly oiled foil. (Can be made 1 day ahead; chill.)


Bake until noodles are tender and lasagna is heated through, about 45 minutes. Uncover; bake until cheese begins to brown and sauce is bubbling slightly at edges, about 15 minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
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I based it on these recipes, with a number of substitutions. I recommend all three of these recipes, they're great =D

Eggplant Lasagna with Broiled Tomato Sauce

Garlicky Baked Butternut Squash

Roasted Winter Squash Seeds