I have been planning to make pumpkin lasagna for a while now. My past experiences with pumpkin/squash have been pleasant and successful.  (Pumpkin Spaghetti, Pumpkin Kibbeh, Pumpkin Bread and Pumpkin Ravioli)

Last week my mom came to visit and brought with her a present: A lovely butternut squash. I researched some recipes online, and found some interesting variations:

http://holdtheonions.net/2009/12/02/pumpkin-lasagna/

http://whatscookingmexico.com/2008/11/26/pumpkin-lasagna/

I really didn’t want the flavor of the butternut squash to be overpowered by sausage or spinach (Even though I am planning to try it with spinach next time). So I ended up improvising:  spicing up the squash (right amount of salt, pepper, nutmeg, sage, garlic), mixing it with my homemade ricotta, making plenty of bechamel sauce and not forgetting the other cheeses involved (Mozzarella and Parmesan).

Some people are intimidated about using pumpkin/squash in their recipes.  The easiest, and fasted way to puree a pumpkin/squash is by peeling, chopping, and steaming it (20 minutes and the flesh becomes soft & ready to puree).
Usually we need to drain as much water as we can from the pureed pumpkin, but in this case, the moisture would be useful to help cook the lasagna sheets.

Ingredients:

- Lasagna Box (I used spinach lasagna)
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- 2 cups of ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves diced
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt to taste (depends on the sweetness of your pumpkin)
- fresh mozzarella and Parmesan for layering  and topping the lasagna

Bechamel Sauce:
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 2 tbsp of flour
- 1 liter of warmed milk (full cream or light, it’s up to you)
- salt, nutmeg and white pepper to taste

Preparation:
- Butter or spray 2 medium sized rectangular oven safe pans

- Prepare the bechamel by melting the butter in a sauce pan, add the flour and whisk until it gets a nice bronze color. Add the warmed milk slowly and whisk to prevent lumps. Finally add the spices and turn off the heat as soon as the sauce starts thickening

- Sautee the diced onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil until transluscent

- In a medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, the onion and garlic mixture, ricotta, Parmesan and all the spices listed above.

- Pour a few ladles of bechamel mixture into your pans to cover their bottom, then layer the lasagna sheets.
pour some of pumpkin mixture to cover the sheets, few ladles of bechamel sauce then the mozzarella cheese.
Repeat with another layer of lasagna, pumpkin, bechamel and cheese.
Finally, one more layer of lasagna sheet, and this time only cover it with the rest of the bechamel sauce, finish up with plenty of mozzarella and some grated Parmesan (to give it that amazing golden color)

Put the pans in the middle rack of your preheated oven, cover with aluminum for the first 30 minutes, then remove the foil and let the cheese get a nice color.

Buon Appetito!

On the menu today is Spinach and Ricotta filled Cannelloni. And since there’s plenty of ricotta to go round (and the oven is on anyway), Pia decided to make some Pumpkin Lasagna as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

What to do with your homemade ricotta?
Let’s start with breakfast

I wrote about the magnificent homemade mascarpone cheese previously. And you will be happy to learn that making Ricotta is much much simpler. Read the rest of this entry »

Pia was reading about cheeses a couple of weeks ago, and she stumbled across a blog post saying that making Mascarpone cheese at home is pretty easy. So we decided to try and make some. Read the rest of this entry »