Butternut Squash & Spinach Lasagna

i wanted to make lasagna because of my excitement over our new pasta machine, but unfortunately all of carefully-crafted home-made noodles were drowned in all of the delicious cheesy, squashy mush. i would reccomend either using store-bought noodles, which are naturally thick and chewy, or rolling out your home-made noodles thicker than usual and maintaining a high pasta-to-filling ratio. otherwise a totally delicious recipe, and i was happy with the changes i made from the original (more garlic and cheese!).

our recipe only made enough filling to make a bread-loaf-pan worth of lasagna, so we used the rest to make a traditional red-sauce lasagna in another pan. below i've doubled the measurements so that there should be enough of everything to fill a standard lasagna pan.



Butternut Squash & Spinach Lasagna

1 box lasagna noodles or about 3 c flour worth home-made noodles
2 medium butternut squash
1 head garlic
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
3 c whole milk
1/3 cup parmesan
~2 cups ricotta
1 egg
1 small bag shredded mozzarella (or equivalent amount fresh sliced mozz)
2 huge bags of baby spinach, or equivalent amount other greens (we used some turnip greens), washed and chopped
1/2 - 1 lemon

pre-heat your oven to 400. If you are home-making your noodles, or using boxed ones that require parboiling, prep them now. For home-made noodles, parboil VERY briefly and then shock under cold water before using.

Chop your squash however is easiest for you (i find simply in half works). brush it with olive oil and salt and pepper it up. remove 2 cloves from your head of garlic, then slice off the top edge of it (to expose the cloves inside their skins) and rub it with olive oil and place it on the tray. roast everything until soft. scoop/peel the squash and puree it. adjust seasoning and set aside.

make the bechamel by melting the butter in a pan, adding the flour, and cooking for a minute. Add the milk and then simmer for a long time until it is quite thick... about glue consistency. Stir in most of the parmesan, saving a few tablespoons. then puree it with all of the roasted garlic (obvs with the skins removed). season and set aside. turn the oven down to 350.

heat up a bit of olive in in a pan. mince the two reserved cloves of garlic and toss then in. add the greens, plus the juice from about 1/4 of the lemon, and season with salt and pepper. cook until JUST wilted, only like 30 second for spinach and a few minutes for sturdier greens. Set aside.

mix the ricotta, egg, juice from about 1/4 - 1/2 of the lemon, and salt and pepper to taste.

build your lasagna by pouring some bechamel in the bottom of the pan and the starting with a layer of noodles. next add a layer each of squash puree, ricotta, greens, and mozzarella, and then repeat (order does not matter). be moderate about the amount of filling or it will turn into a pile of mush wheh it is baked. end with a layer of noodles, followed by a bit of bechamel and then sprinkle the remaining parmesan over the top. bake your lasagna for about 40 minutes covered in tin foil, then remove foil and bake for another 15 without it (place under the broiler for extra bubbly goodness). enjoy!