Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna

Adapted from fineCooking and one of the best versions of lasagna ever!  I love that it can be prepared in stages even two days in advance and just popped in the oven for 30 minutes before dinner. 

Printable Recipe

Prep time, including roasting squash & garlic: 1 hour
Baking time: 25-30 minutes
Rest time: 10 minutes
Serves 6

Ingredients: 
lasagna sheets - I used purchased fresh sheets & needed 1 1/2 packages - enough for 5 layers in a 9x13 or baking pan. Or purchase dry - oven ready lasagna sheets.
Roasted squash:
1 large butternut squash, cut in half length wise & seeded
2 large cloves garlic, unpeeled but tip removed
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

Goat cheese & sage sauce: (Bechamel to the Nth degree!)
4 tbsp butter
2 sprigs fresh sage
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 cups milk
1 1/4 cups crumbled fresh goat Feta (6oz/175g)
3/4 cup finely grated 4 cheese blend (or any combination provolone, parmesan, fontina, asiago, pecorino romano)
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper

Breadcrumb topping:
1/2 cup panko crumbs
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 tsp fresh sage leaves, chopped
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/4-1/2 cup grated cheese

Directions:
Roasting the squash & garlic: about 1 hour
1. Preheat the oven to 425F/220C and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment.

2. Place the squash, cut side up on the baking sheet.  Place one clove of garlic in each well, along with one sprig of thyme each.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a few grindings of pepper.

3. Roast until the squash is fork tender and starts to golden.  Depending on the size of the squash, this should take 40-50 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Discard the thyme sprigs.

4. In a large bowl, scoop out the squash "meat" and garlic pulp.  Mash until smooth and taste for seasoning.
This step can be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge in a sealed container for up to two days.

Preparing Goat Feta & Sage Bechamel Sauce: about 20 minutes
1. Melt butter in a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat. Add the sage sprigs and cook until the butter is fragrant and the butter turns slightly brown, but does not burn.  Discard the sage.

2. Add the flour and whisk until smooth and golden, scraping the sides (about 2 minutes).  Gradually whisk in the milk ("gradual" so there are no lumps) and cook, whisking occasionally until the sauce is thick enough to form a thin coat on the back of a spoon. (about 15 minutes).  Stir in the crumbled feta and grated cheese blend, grated nutmeg and freshly ground pepper to taste.

3. Set aside 1 1/2 cups and mix the rest of the sauce in with the squash mixture.
Best prepared on the day you are assembling the lasagna.

Preparing the topping: about 5 minutes
1. Melt the butter.

2. In a small bowl, combine the panko crumbs, melted butter, chopped sage & thyme leaves with a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper.  Set aside.
Best prepared on the day you are assembling the lasagna.

Assembling the lasagna: about 10 minutes
1. Spread 1/2 cup prepared cheese sauce over the bottom of a 9x13" baking pan. Cover the sauce with a layer of pasta.  Spread 1 cup of squash mixture evenly over the pasta.

2. Repeat pasta layer (5 layers in total) and squash layer (4 in total).  Top layer should be pasta.

3. Spread remaining Bechamel sauce evenly over the top.

4. Sprinkle panko mixture and remaining 1/2 cup of  grated cheese evenly.
This stage can also be prepared up to 2 days ahead of time. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate   If so, bring to room temperature (about 1 hour) before baking.

Baking Lasagna: 
1. Preheat oven to 350F/175C (if baking same day, just reduce temperature from 425F/220C).

2. Cover room temperature lasagna with foil.  I like to spray the foil with a little olive oil Pam to keep the cheese from sticking during the baking.  Bake for 40 minutes.

3. Remove foil and continue to bake until the top is golden, panko really crunchy and some bubbling around the edges (about 15-20 minutes). Note: I insert a toothpick into the center and check to make sure it's hot when I take it out).

4. Cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Goes great with a mixed green salad  My Honey's new favorite vinaigrette:  Liquid Gold Tuscan Herb infused olive oil, Liquid Gold Sicilian Lemon white balsamic vinegar, crushed garlic, dollop of Kozlik's Lime & Honey mustard.

Freezes well, too.

Roasted Eggplant, Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna

Printable Recipe


Hands on time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 45-60 minutes (until bubbly around the edges)
Resting time: 10-15 minutes

Serves 8 (ingredients are for 14”x7” oven-proof deep dish pan)

Ingredients:3/4-1 box multigrain lasagna noodles (enough sheets to cover the pan for three layers)
2-3 cups tomato sauce ( I use my Lazybones Marinara Sauce)  
2 cups (400 grams/14 oz) ricotta or cottage cheese
1 pkg Boursin cheese (I prefer the garlic & herbs)
170g/6oz goat cheese with garlic & cayenne
1 cup coarsely grated mozzarella cheese
1 large or two small eggplants, thinly sliced (1/4 " )
olive oil for drizzling over eggplants & sauteing mushrooms
225g/8oz cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
145g/5oz baby spinach
Directions:
1. Boil the pasta until al dente (about 8-10 minutes) in lots of salted water. You want the pasta to be undercooked.  It will continue to cook in the oven.  Another option is to use ready to cook lasagna...just lay them in the pan and use a little more sauce.
Pepare the filling:
2. Preheat the oven to 400° F/200°C and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.  Drizzle some olive oil over the bottom and place the thin slices of eggplant on top in a single layer.  Season with salt & pepper and drizzle with a little more olive oil.   Roast for 4-5 minutes and flip and roast until the eggplant is soft (probably another 2-3 minutes).  Do pay attention.  You don't want the eggplant to crisp up or worse... burn.   Once soft, remove to a cutting board and coarsely chop the cooked eggplant.


3.  Heat a heavy bottomed skillet over medium high heat and saute the mushrooms in a little olive oil until golden.  Set aside.


4.  When the pasta is mostly cooked.  Remove from the pot with tongs, drain and set aside.  Throw the spinach into the pasta water and allow it to wilt (2 minutes max).  Remove with a slotted spoon over a sieve and press to remove any excess water.  Combine with the mushrooms. 


5. In a small bowl, combine the goat & Boursin cheeses.  If you can't find either, use plain creamy goat cheese and season with 1 tsp dried herbs,  1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.   Divide in half and leave one half as is, the other ad the shredded mozzarella for the topping.


Assemble lasagna in a 14”x8” ovenproof dish as follows:Thin layer of sauce
Layer of noodles to cover the pan side by side. Cut noodles to fit the remaining spaces.
Layer of sauce 
Layer of half the spinach & mushrooms, topped with half the chopped eggplant
Layer of ricotta or cottage cheese
Layer of noodles
Layer of sauceLayer of half the spinach & mushrooms, topped with half the chopped eggplant
Layer of 1/2 goat & Boursin mixture laid in dollops over the sauce
Layer of noodles
Layer of sauce
Layer of 1/2 goat, Boursin & mozzarella mixture laid in dollops over the sauce 

6. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes at 350° F/180°C or until bubbly.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.   It makes it easier to cut and looks less soupy. 

Tips & Variations 
Spread the ingredients evenly for each layer, right to the edge of the pan.

If you are going to make the Marinara sauce the same day, add about 45 minutes to the hands-on time.

Hottie Tottie Manicotti or Lasagna

Hottie Tottie Manicotti or Lasagna
From The Substitute Yourself Skinny Cookbook
I was skeptical that a dish with a reduction of close to 700 calories, would actually taste great. Although I didn’t find specifically low fat pasta sauce and used a low fat fontina cheese instead of mozzarella (which might have more calories), the dish was awesome and even if I ONLY saved 500 calories per serving…that’s impressive and so good, I’ll be making it often.

Printable Recipe

Hands on time: 5-10 minutes
Baking time: 40-45 minutes (or until bubbly around the edges and the cheese is golden and melted on top)

Serves 10

Ingredients:
1 box manicotti shells (250g/8oz) Ruth’s note: I bought ready made, fresh whole wheat lasagna sheets to make my own and discovered I cut them too small to roll around the filling, so it ended up a very delicious lasagna. I’m sure stuffed giant pasta shells would work too. My first choice is oven ready pasta.)
1 tbsp olive oil

Filling:
1 cup shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese (this time I used Fontana)
1 cup reduced fat ricotta cheese
1 cup non fat cottage cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp fresh oregano leaves, chopped (I used ¼ cup)
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 (28oz/795ml) jar meatless low fat pasta sauce (Ruth’s note: couldn’t find any that specifically said “low fat”)
Non stick cooking spray

Directions:

1. Ruth’s note: If you are not using oven-ready pasta, cook them according to the package directions and drain. They should be a bit under done so they won’t fall apart when stuffing. Remember they will continue to cook in the oven.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cheeses. Mix well and add the herbs salt & pepper. Mix to blend and set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C and prepare the large oven proof baking dish. Spray with a little nonstick spray and a thin layer of sauce (about ½ cup).

4. Fill the shells with cheese mixture. Ruth’s note: I like to use flat lasagna sheets, cut so that they will form a tube once the filling is placed in the middle and will pasta ends will slightly overlap. I place them seam side down in the baking dish. This time, however I cut the sheets too small and decided to turn the dish into lasagna. It would also work beautifully with jumbo pasta shells.


5. Once the dish is filled with stuffed manicotti, or shells, or layers of pasta, cheese, pasta, cheese, pasta, top with the remaining tomato sauce. Add any remaining cheese over top and cover with foil.

6. Bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the sauce bubbles around the edges and the top layer of cheese is melted and golden.

7. Ruth’s note: Remove from the oven and let it rest, uncovered on the counter/table for 5 minutes. This will let the dish “set” and still be hot.

Sweet Potato & Mushroom Lasagna - Passover Friendly

Norene's Sweet Potato & Mushroom Lasagna

Perfect for Passover…no noodles!
From Norene's Healthy Kitchen

Hands-on time: 20-30 minutes
Baking time: 1 hour or until cheese is melted and golden
Resting time: 10-15 minutes
Serves 10-12

Ingredients:
Sauce:
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
3 cups mushrooms ( I always choose cremini), cut in half or quartered if large
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into large chunks
1-2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 large cloves garlic, minced
½ cup fresh Italian/flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped or 1 tsp dried
3 cups Italian style tomato sauce
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar (my addition to counter the acidity of the tomatoes)

3 large sweet potatoes

Filling:
3 cups light ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Sauce:
1. Process the onions, mushrooms and red peppers in a food processor using quick on/off pulses until they are coarsely chopped.

2. Heat some oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat and sauté the vegetables until golden (about 10 minutes).

3. Add the garlic, parsley, and basil along with the tomato sauce, salt & pepper. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes. Taste for seasoning (this is usually when I add some sugar). Norene’s note: the sauce can be made a day ahead and refrigerated.

Lasagna:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/170°C line a rimmed baking sheet large enough to hold a 13”x9” baking dish with foil for easy cleanup.

2. Two versions for prepping the sweet potato:
Norene’s version: pierce sweet potatoes with a sharp knife and microwave on high for 6-8 minutes until partially cooked. Cool slightly before peeling. Cut into thin slices with a sharp knife. You should have about 6 cups. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with additional salt & pepper.
Ruth’s version: next time I’ll just peel raw sweet potatoes and thinly slice with a Mandoline. Toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

3. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, Parmesan and filling seasonings.

4. Grease an oven proof 13”x9” baking dish with a little olive oil. Do the layering as follows:

• 1/3 of the sauce spread evenly over the bottom of the dish
• Arrange 1/3 of the sweet potatoes to cover the sauce completely (this is the “noodle” layer)
• Evenly spread half the ricotta mixture (Ruth’s note: Joanna & I forgot to add 2/3 cup mozzarella separately at this point and perhaps that’s why it was soupy to serve)
• 1/3 sauce
• 1/3 sweet potatoes
• Rest of the ricotta mixture
• Last of the sweet potatoes
• Last of the sauce
• Mozzarella cheese to cover.

Norene says this can be prepared up to this point a day in advance as well. Just let it come to room temperature before baking.

5. Bake for 1 hour or so. Norene covers hers with foil for the first 45 minutes, we left it uncovered for the entire time. The sweet potatoes should be tender when you insert the tip of a sharp knife.

6. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before serving for easier slicing. We needed a spoon to serve because we rushed the process, so it was a bit soupy, but very delicious.