Greetings on this glorious September day.
Fall is definitely approaching and I hope it lingers this year. After what seemed a short, rainy and chillier than usual summer it would be a welcome treat to have the kind of autumn that meanders along lazily, taking its sweet time, giving us opportunities to slow down and kick our feet through the fallen leaves. A real New England Indian Summer.
Our peach trees were loaded this season. Mom and I made three batches of Paradise Jam. (wait for the recipe…it will come!) I froze quite a few pies worth of peaches so I know in the depths of the coming winter I will be pulling the filling out of the freezer and warming the house with baking peach pies.
Today tho, I’m roasting butternut squash with butter, extra virgin olive oil, sage and thyme sprigs, sweet sliced Vidalia onion and roasted garlic. I’m not sure what about this I enjoy most. The unbelievable smell in the house as these ingredients roast or the taste of this dish after its been baked and waits on the table.
This lasagna is terrific for a large gathering and inevitably I am requested by my family to make it at the holidays and throughout the winter months. Its not difficult to put together. The roasting takes the most time. On a cool fall day the roasting not only warms the house but it forces you to slow down. Having to wait for the process to complete gives you an opportunity to catch up on something else around the house. Or not. You can just sit and smell the aroma coming from the kitchen. That in itself is enough for me!
One of the nice things about this recipe is you can roast the butternut mixture ahead of time and refrigerate it until you are ready to put the lasagna together. As with some dishes, the flavors blend if they are allowed to sit a bit and sometimes the dish is much more flavorful the next day.
Roasted Butternut, Sage and Garlic Lasagna
Pre heat your oven to 375 degrees.
Get your large shallow roasting pan out and ready to receive:
One large butternut squash peeled with seeds removed and stem ends cut off. (I have a favorite vegetable peeler which makes peeling the squash super easy…see photo) Once prepped, dice the butternut into 1/2 inch chunks and place in your shallow roasting pan.
One large Vidalia onion, skinned and sliced. Spread onion slices over the squash in the roasting pan.
Four or five sprigs of fresh sage and two or three sprigs of fresh thyme. Rinse these and lay them over the squash and onion.
Drizzle the mix with 2 or 3 TB of extra virgin olive oil. Dice about 3 TB of butter and place on top of the squash and onions.
Add a few grinds of salt and pepper (to taste)
Now add about 3/4 cup of water to the pan.
Gently mix the contents in the roasting pan, then place the pan in the pre heated oven and roast the squash mixture (uncovered) for about an hour and a half. Every 20 minutes, give or take, pull the pan out of the oven and stir the mixture around a bit.
When the squash is fork tender and the moisture in the pan has evaporated its time to take the pan out of the oven. Let the squash mixture cool completely in the pan. Once it is completely cooled, pull out and discard the sage and thyme sprigs.
Now, I take advantage of the oven going and roast a large bulb of garlic at the same I’m roasting the squash mix. To do that (if you’ve never roasted garlic) is easy.
Take one large bulb of garlic. Gently, with your fingers and without separating the cloves, peel most of the paper off the garlic bulb. With a very sharp knife slice the top of the bulb off. Some of the tiny tips of the cloves may separate at this point. No worries…just keep them all together in a pile with the rest of the bulb. Now, place the bottom of the bulb in a small ceramic roasting dish. Drizzle about 2 TB of olive oil over it. Then place the top of the bulb back on the bottom half and drop those loose tips alongside. Drizzle again with another TB or so of olive oil. The only thing you can do wrong here is not add enough olive oil. I add a TB or two of water as well. Now, cover the dish tightly with foil and place it in the oven alongside the roasting pan of squash.
Roast the garlic for about 45 minutes (if the bulb is a smaller one roast for 30 minutes). Take the dish out of the oven and let it cool completely. Do not remove the foil covering. Yet.
Now to make the cheese sauce for the lasagna.
Melt a stick of butter in a sauce pan over medium to low heat. When it is completely melted (do not let it burn which it will do quickly if you are not watching it) add 2 TB flour. With a whisk, quickly blend the flour into the butter and gradually add 2 cups of half and half while continuing to whisk. The whisking will avoid lumping. Now, when you have a semi thick, smooth mixture of butter, flour and half and half add: 3/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of grated Asiago or whatever type of sharp Italian cheeses you prefer. Whisk the cheese in well until you have a gorgeous thick, creamy, fabulous smelling cheese sauce. Lastly add the cooled roasted garlic by squeezing the cooled cloves out of their paper skins. Blend it in well with the cheese sauce so that some of the cloves smush. Remove from heat.
When these steps are complete, get your lasagna pan or ceramic dish out and ready to receive. Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the bottom of the dish or pan you are using. Alternately layer lasagna pasta, squash mixture and cheese sauce ending with the cheese sauce. Sometimes I add a layer or two of ricotta. I have added chicken or sausage to this dish, but I personally think its better without meat. You really get the squash and cheese flavors. When you have poured the last of the cheese sauce over the lasagna top it off with a bit more grated cheese of your choice or slices of fresh mozzarella.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for roughly an hour. Give or take depending on when you see that telltale cheesy bubbling in the center of the dish and the smell in the house is making the wait for this delectable masterpiece impossible to endure.
At that point, take the lasagna out of the oven. Set it on your table and while your friends and family are gathering around it will have a chance to rest and set. Get out your biggest serving spatula, load up the plates and dig in. Enjoy every last plate scraped bite.
I typically add a red cabbage slaw and or green beans to this meal. Add a salad if you wish. Anything goes. Don’t forget to pour the wine.
Many Blessings…