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!

Penne Alla Salsiccia for Secret Recipe Club

It is the start of the May Long Weekend and I'm just writing my post for Monday's Secret Recipe Club reveal. I feel like the last few months have just got away on me!! But with each month that passes, I can tell you one thing - I'm always thrilled with my assignment for Secret Recipe Club. Whether its a blog that challenges me with recipes that are out of my comfort zone, not my usual fare, or too many delicious recipes to choose from, its always fun browsing through that blog trying to pick what you're going to make! Some of my past choices for SRC have been:

Salted Caramel Filled Brownies
Quinoa & Black Bean Chili 
Birthday Cake Oreo Cookie Bark
Zucchini Carrot Cake
Pizza Bites
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels
Lime & Blueberry Scones

All of them were absolutely delicious and so worth the effort of making. :)

This month I was assigned Cookin' with Moxie written by Jamie. Jamie is a beautiful Italian girl who absolutely loves to cook and loves to eat! Her love for cooking, particularly for cooking meals true to her Italian heritage totally shows through when you look through her blog. It was so hard to pick a recipe because I wanted to try everything!!! After looking through loads of recipes, I finally settled on Spaghetti Alla Salsiccia, for which I didn't have any spaghetti on hand, so I used penne pasta instead and it worked like a charm! Oh man was it good! My homemade pasta sauce doesn't very often end up tasting 10x better than the stuff you buy in a jar, so I usually avoid making it. But this recipe is a keeper. With a short list of easy to find ingredients, you'll be on your way to an authentic tasting pasta dish in no time at all. I made a couple of small changes to the recipe based on what I had on hand in the house, but other than that, I left the recipe as is!

Penne Alla Salsiccia
Recipe minimally adapted from Cookin' with Moxie

Ingredients:

• 1 lb penne
• 2 tsp olive oil, divided
• 1 16oz package of sliced crimini mushrooms
• 1 lb mild italian sausage (can use mild italian flavoured turkey sausage for lower fat dish)
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups pasta water, reserved from cooking penne
• shredded provolone to finish dish

Method:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente according to the directions on the box. Reserve 1 1/2 cups cooking water for later. Drain pasta and set aside.
2. While pasta is cooking, heat 1 tsp olive oil in a saute pan. Saute mushrooms over medium heat until lightly browned, about 5-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir to distribute seasonings and then remove from pan. Set aside.
3. Add the remaining 1 tsp olive oil (I found I didn't need this as the sausage was oily enough) and saute the sausage until just about cooked through. Add the red wine and cook until reduced by half. Once the wine is reduced, add the mushrooms, worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Cook stirring 1-2 minutes so everything gets coated.
4. Add reserved pasta water and stir to combine. Simmer sauce uncovered, until slighly thickened 20-30 minutes. Season with additional pepper to taste.
5. Combine pasta and sauce and stir to evenly distribute.

And as Jamie would say Tutti Mangia!

Loved my SRC assignment this month and loved the recipe I picked! Thanks Jamie for the lovely selection of recipes. :) Can't wait to try some more.

Happy Cooking my Friends!