And the Lasagna Played On.

I tried out a lasagna recipe last week, I like the idea behind it since it was called Roasted Butternut and Sweet Potato Whole Wheat Lasagna, but I found it really sweet and it was quite greasy, delicious but heavy.  So I did what I normally do when it sounds better then it was, I modified it :)

I changed it up considerably from the original recipe, which is not that unusual for me :)  Firstly I found that the  bottom layer of noodles didn't cook properly since there was no tomato sauce, so I cooked the noodles first rather then us no-boil noodles.  Next I decided that it needed something a bit bitter to balance out the sweetness of the pasta, so I added spinach and finally I found that the whole thing was really heavy and greasy so I changed the cheeses and changed the procedure a bit.  I hope you enjoy it as much a I have.  Especially since I made it big since I was expecting a house full of people to eat it and since they cancelled I have a whole big pan of lasagna to eat.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

Heavily modified from thisHow Sweet East recipe

9-12 Lasagna Noodles, whole wheat or white

Squash

1 Medium Butternut Squash, peeled and cubed.

1 Medium Yam, peeled and cubed

1 tbsp Butter

Spray Oil (I have a sprayer filled with Olive oil)

1/4 tsp Fresh Grated Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Pepper

Spinach and Cheese

1/2 White Onion, finely diced

3 Garlic Cloves, finely diced 

Spray Oil

1/2 tbsp Butter

1/2 tsp Salt 

1/2 tsp Pepper

2 packages Frozen Spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed

500g tub Ricotta

250g tub 2% Cottage Cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan

1/2 cup Mascarpone Cheese ( I added this because I has some left over from the original lasagna I made)

1 bunch Green Onion

1  Eggs

1 1/2 cups Mozzarella

Sage leaves around 20.

-Preheat oven to 350

-Lay squash and yam on a baking sheet and spritz with olive oil, sprinkle with nutmeg, salt and pepper and toss to coat.  

-Roast approximately 50 minutes, tossing every 15 minutes, remove once the squash and yams are soft and a little golden along the edges.

-Remove from oven and let cool.  Once cool mash with a fork

-Preheat a skillet and spritz with a bit of olive oil, and butter.  Saute onions until translucent and then add garlic and stir until fragrant.  Add spinach and cook for approximately 2 minutes.  Put spinach mixture in a bowl and let cool.

-Once cool, stir in remaining cheeses, green onions and egg.  Mix well.

-Cook lasagna noodles according to directions.

-Start Layering a grease/buttered 9"x13" rectangular pan with noodles, top that with 1/3 of the squash mixture, 1/3 of spinach and cheese mixture and top with 1/2 cup Mozzarella. Noodles, 1/3 squash, 1/3 spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella.  Noodles, 1/3 squash, 1/3 spinach, rest of mozzarella.

-Bake 45 minutes at 350 or until cheese is browned and lasagna is bubbling.

Squeezed the spinach dry-ish and the onion and garlic is ready to dice.

My helper with her new self cut hair.

Onions sauteing.

Cooked spinach, garlic and onions, cooling waiting for the cheeses, green onion and egg.

Mmmm, cheese, in many forms.

Mashed squash and yam, divided into three lumps for easier assembly later.

All the layers have been added and it is ready to bake.  I plan to put it in so I pull out a hot lasagna when everyone arrives.

See all those lovely layers.

Ready for the oven.

Mmmm, delicious.

You can still see the layers.