Sage, Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Lasagna

 Hey Friends! Its been a while. This weekend I felt particularly inspired to whip up a new recipe and it was such an amazing recipe, I just couldn't wait to share it with you. I'll pre-warn you - its a lot of work - see the full sink of dishes in the last picture! Since all three of the sauces are made from scratch, its a bit of work. But the results are soooo delicious - well worth the extra work! Save it for a weekend and do it up!

Sage, Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Lasagna
Recipe adapted from Meals in Heels by Jennifer Joyce

Ingredients:

• 2 kg butternut squash, seeds removed, cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 heads garlic, top 1/4 inch trimmed
• 2 small onions, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp. chopped sage leaves, plus 15 whole leaves
• one package of fresh lasagna pasta sheets
• 1 cup coarsely grated parmesano reggiano

Tomato Sauce:

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 package mild Italian sausage
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1.2 kg tinned whole roma tomatoes, pureed in a food processor
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Goat Cheese Béchamel

• 2 1/2 oz butter
• 1/3 cup plain flour
• 3 cups 1% milk
• 100g goat cheese

Method:

1. Preheat oven 400F. Place butternut squash on two baking trays, drizzle over a little oil and season well with salt and pepper. Drizzle garlic with a little oil and season with salt and pepper, wrap in foil and place on tray. Roast for 40 minutes or until the squash and garlic are soft. Remove the foil from garlic and set aside with squash to cool. Reduce heat to 350F.
2. Heat remaining oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and chopped sage and cook for 8-10 minutes or until softened. Add squash, squeeze the roasted garlic from their skins into the pan, season with salt and pepper and roughly mash. Place in food processor and puree until very smooth. Set aside.
3. To make the tomato sauce, brown sausage in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for a few minutes until golden. Add pureed tomato and season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Cover with lid and let simmer for 40 minutes or until thickened. Set aside.
4. To make béchamel sauce - melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir continuously wit a whisk for two minutes or until mixture becomes slightly coloured. Pour in milk and whisk quickly until there are no lumps. Continue whisking for another five minutes or until béchamel thickens. Add the cheese and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.
5. To assemble the lasagna - spread a little tomato sauce over base of 4 litre capacity baking dish (you'll need a fairly big one - you can see mine overflowed a bit when it baked because I didn't have a large enough pan). Cover with a layer of lasagna noodle sheets. Spread over one-third each of béchamel, then mashed pumpkin and tomato sauce. Repeat two more times, finishing with a layer of tomato sauce. Then sprinkle liberally with parmesan (you'll have some extra left over to sprinkle on slices when you serve). Scatter over the whole sage leaves and bake for 40 minutes or until golden. Remove and let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

And that's that! It is a lovely flavour combination and was a huge hit with my family! I will definitely be making this one again! You can also make it ahead by making your sauces, assembling the lasagna and then refrigerating or freezing until you're ready to bake it. I hope you enjoy!

Happy Cooking my Friends!

Curried Roast Butternut Squash Soup

Who's excited for a long weekend? I sure am! Even though I'm going to be studying all weekend for an upcoming exam, I am still super excited to be able to sit in my Lu Lu Lemon comfy clothes and study instead of getting dressed up for work and putting on a full face of makeup! Plus, my coffee at home is so much better than the office coffee! ;)

I made this amazing butternut squash soup last night for dinner (I pre-roasted the squash the night before so cooking up a batch of soup last night took no time at all!!) and I'm so excited about this recipe that I'm sharing it with you the day after. I'm pretty sure that has never happened on this blog! Usually I'm all about the procrastination.

I just did a random google search for roasted butternut squash soup, but it was so hard to find a recipe that a) wasn't full of whipping cream or some other high fat substance that adds creaminess to the soup or b) looked like it would be full of flavour. So many of the recipes were just squash, broth, salt, pepper and whipping cream. And thats okay... I guess... but I wanted something more. Then I stumbled across an old post on Jen's blog Food&Whine. Jen is a fellow Canadian so of course she had maple syrup in her butternut squash soup recipe! I made a couple small changes, but mostly followed her recipe because it sounded so good!

Curried Roast Butternut Squash Soup
Recipe adapted from Food&Whine

Ingredients:

• 2 butternut squash


• 1 tbsp grapeseed oil


• 1 small onion, finely chopped


• 1 tbsp butter


• 1 litre of chicken stock (about 4 cups)


• 1/3 cup light cream


• pinch of cinnamon


• 1 tsp curry powder (I used hot)


• 1 heaping tsp cumin


• salt and black pepper to taste


• 1/3 cup of maple syrup or to taste

Method:

1. The night before: cut each squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and the stringy parts. Preheat the oven to 375F. Rub the cut side of the squash with some of the oil, then grease a 9x13 inch pan with the remainder of the oil. Place the squash cut side down in the pan and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to one hour or until the squash is tender. Cool until you can safely handle the squash. Scrape into a container and place in the fridge overnight.


2. The day of: In a large saucepan, melt the butter and saute the onions until they are soft and just about starting to brown. Add the squash you roasted last night and cover with the chicken stock. You can add more if you like a thinner soup, but I liked it with the one litre of stock. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.


3. Add the maple syrup, salt and pepper, curry, cumin and cinnamon. Stir well. Transfer to blender and blend in batches until silky smooth. Return to the saucepan. If you want to be virtuous, eat it at this point. If you want a tiny bit of decadence, stir in the light cream (as much or as little as you like really). Heat over low heat until soup is warmed through. Don't bring it back to a boil now that you've added the cream though.


4. Serve with a dallop of sour cream and some more maple syrup drizzled on top. Also, it doesn't hurt to make some yummy biscuits or bread for dipping.

Hope you enjoy this recipe and your long weekend!

Happy Cooking my Friends!