roasted pumpkin lasagna

Autumn is definitely descending, and here in Stockholm it's happening more rapidly than I'm accustomed to. There is definitely none of the lingering Indian Summer that can happen on the West Coast of BC. We're losing daylight quickly, and I know the payback for all of those long summer days is just around the corner. Still, autumn has always been one of my favourite times of year. I love the crispness in the air, and the smell of the leaves. I like snuggling under a warm duvet and feeling the cold night air on my nose through an open bedroom window. And, when I think deeply about it, I enjoy the sort of melancholy atmosphere that comes as the days are growing colder and shorter. It can be peaceful compared to the hubub of summer, when most people I know feel like they need to be up-and-at-it and making the most of the season while it's hanging around. Autumn is also, I've realized, the time that I feel the most nest-y. I'm filled with this deep desire to bake and can and freeze and pickle, to put up reserves to get through the winter. It must be some long ago forged survival instinct that hasn't yet realized that there is a supermarket mere blocks away that is selling fresh raspberries. In October. In Stockholm. And I must say, I hope it never does.

As I mentioned previously, one of my favourite things about autumn is the winter squash that becomes so abundant at this time of year. We discovered there is a Farmer's Market not too far away from our apartment that goes on Saturday mornings until the end of October, and there was reportedly squash galore, so off we went. Paul did a brisk tour of the vendors, made an efficient purchase of some fresh salmon for his dinner, and took off for the swimming pool. Which left me, his Farmer's Market crazy wife, alone, in a brand new (to me) market. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I was on a strict cash budget, so there wasn't too much damage done. I have a bit of a problem when it comes to Farmer's Markets, and fresh local food in general. Paul loves telling the story about the time we were on the Sunshine Coast and, after going to our favourite farm stand for some produce, I dropped him off to go for a run. He told me he was going to go one way, but ended up going another, and totally busted me back at the farm stand for round two. Like I said, I have a problem. Anyways, I walked home from the market on Saturday with some kale, fallen apples, 15 precious farm fresh eggs, and a pumpkin.

I had it in my mind before heading to the market that I wanted to construct a roasted pumpkin lasagna for dinner that night. See, I'd been reading all about lasagna over at Smitten Kitchen, and although her lasagna was mushroom based and I absolutely despise mushrooms (which, as a vegetarian, is the bane of my existence), reading the recipe started the wheels turning. There are two main similarities between the lasagna I made and the one over there; the simplicity, and the use of a béchamel sauce for the base. The rest is fairly different, especially in that this is a pumpkin lasagna, not a mushroom one. I decided to sandwich a layer of ricotta between two layers of roasted pumpkin, and, I decided to make the ricotta myself. Like I said, I'm feeling nest-y. Let me just say two things about that: 1) You don't have to do it. A store-bought ricotta is perfectly acceptable. 2) Home made ricotta is really easy. I used a variation of this recipe from 101 Cookbooks, only I used way less milk (2L total) and I used only whole milk with the juice of 1 lemon added, because I didn't have any buttermilk, I don't know the Swedish word for buttermilk (update: just learned it, it's kärnmjölk), and I wasn't going to waste money on mystery milk and have it turn out badly. The lemon juice added the acidity that the buttermilk would have contributed, and it worked just fine. My only regret was that I didn't make more. Next time I'll use 4L milk instead.

Also not necessary is all the time I spent meticulously peeling the pumpkin and cutting the bits into pretty little half moons. By the time they were roasted some were falling apart when I was placing them into the lasagna, and by the second layer, when I realized that all of my efforts at keeping them pretty were being covered up with noodles and béchamel sauce, I forgot why pretty had been so important in the first place.

I have an incredibly generous mother-in-law who not infrequently gifts me with fine kitchenware. It is her I have to thank for all of my All-Clad collection, and most of my Le Creuset pieces. Just before I returned to Stockholm in September she added an another piece of All-Clad to my collection; an adorable saucepan and whisk, which she requested would show up in a blog post soon. I promise you that I did use the saucepan for making the béchamel, and the whisk, but I did not get a picture of it, and for that I am truly sorry (I have a healthy fear of my mother-in-law, as people should), Tess, I promise I'll make it happen. In my defense, I was making the béchamel and the ricotta and peeling and coring fallen apples for an apple crisp and monitoring the roasting pumpkin and dealing with the lasagna noodles all at once, so picking up a camera wasn't a top priority. Furthermore, it's getting dark pretty early, as I mentioned, and getting decent pictures in the later parts of the day is becoming increasingly challenging. Rest assured though, each and every piece of my All-Clad collection was called into action for this dinner.

Speaking of photography, this post is the first one to feature photos taken entirely with my new (to me) Canon DSLR! Do you notice a difference? The learning curve has been mighty.

The béchamel sauce is seasoned with dried sage that comes from my friend Alice's garden. She sent me back to Stockholm with a variety of dried green herbs tucked into ziploc baggies, which didn't look suspicious at all. If you're using dried sage, use quite a bit. The flavours of this dish are quite neutral, and require a bit of a kick. Adding some garlic or other seasoning to the sauce would be a great idea. If you're using powdered sage, proceed with caution. That stuff packs some punch. If you have fresh, go for it!

Being nest-y and all, I would have loved to have taken this recipe over the top by hand making the lasagna noodles as well. Alas, my Kitchen Aid mixer, for which I have the fabulous pasta roller attachment, didn't make it with the rest of our stuff on the boat to Stockholm. Something about the power . . . one day I'll have a European version, or I'll acquire a hand-crank pasta roller. In any case, I used dried noodles, and I was not happy with my noodle selection. I picked up these fancy looking Italian ones that were flat squares, as opposed to having crinkly edges. What that ended up meaning is that when they cooked they all stuck together in the boiling water, despite my best efforts to keep them apart with two spatulas (seriously, you should not have to stand over a pot of boiling noodles fighting to keep them apart), and then stuck together even more while cooling in the colander. Do yourself a favour and either pick up some fresh noodles (or make some!) that you don't have to boil, or if using dried, use the no-boil kind.

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Roasted Pumpkin Lasagna with Sage Béchamel Sauce

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Diet Vegetarian

Keyword Lasagna, Pumpkin Lasagna

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Calories 726kcal

Author Katie Trant

Ingredients

Roasted pumpkin filling

• 1 medium cooking pumpkin about 3–3⅓ pounds (1.4–1.5 kg), weighed whole
• 1 medium yellow onion peeled and halved
• 2 large garlic cloves peeled and left whole
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

*Sage béchamel

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Ricotta filling

• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• ½ teaspoon teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Spinach layer

• 20 ounces frozen chopped spinach thawed and squeezed out
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For assembly

• 18 No-boil lasagna noodles enough for 6 layers, approximately 18 noodles depending on size
• 1 cup grated Gruyère cheese
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

US Customary - Metric

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Instructions

Roast the pumpkin

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh. Place the pumpkin halves cut side down on a baking sheet.
  1 medium cooking pumpkin
• Toss the onion halves and garlic cloves with 2 teaspoons olive oil until coated. Place the onion cut side down on the baking sheet alongside the pumpkin, with the garlic cloves touching each other.
  1 medium yellow onion, 2 large garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Roast for 20 minutes, then remove the garlic when golden and tender. Turn the onion halves cut side up and continue roasting the onion and pumpkin until the pumpkin flesh is very tender, approximately 1 hour total.
• Let the vegetables cool until comfortable to handle, about 5–10 minutes. Scoop the pumpkin flesh into a bowl. If the flesh is watery, transfer it to a cheesecloth-lined mesh sieve and gently squeeze out the excess liquid, then return it to the bowl. You'll use the same cheesecloth to squeeze out the spinach later.
• Mash the pumpkin with a potato masher or fork, leaving a little texture. Finely chop the roasted onion and garlic and stir them into the pumpkin with the salt and pepper.
  1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Increase the oven temperature to 400°F (200°C).

Make the sage béchamel

• While the vegetables roast, heat ¼ cup olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sage and let sizzle for about 1 minute.
  ¼ cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon dried sage
• Add the flour and whisk continuously for about 2 minutes, until lightly toasted and nutty smelling.
  ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• Slowly drizzle in the milk, whisking continuously until smooth. Reduce the heat slightly and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring continuously, until thickened.
  4 cups milk
• Stir in the salt and pepper, then remove from the heat and set aside.
  1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Prepare the ricotta and spinach

• Stir the ricotta, salt, and pepper together in a bowl.
  2 cups ricotta cheese, ½ teaspoon teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Place the thawed spinach in cheesecloth or a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Transfer to a bowl, loosen with a fork, and season with salt and pepper.
  20 ounces frozen chopped spinach, Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Assemble the lasagna

• Ladle about 1 cup of béchamel into the bottom of a deep 9 × 13-inch baking dish (approximately 23 × 33 cm). Cover with a layer of no-boil lasagna noodles, breaking them to fit if needed.
  18 No-boil lasagna noodles
• Spread half of the pumpkin filling over the noodles. Cover with a second layer of noodles.
• Ladle béchamel over the noodles, then scatter half of the spinach evenly over the sauce. Cover with a third layer of noodles.
• Spread all of the ricotta filling over the noodles. Cover with a fourth layer of noodles.
• Spread the remaining pumpkin filling over the noodles. Cover with a fifth layer of noodles.
• Ladle béchamel over the noodles, then scatter the remaining spinach evenly over the sauce. Cover with a sixth and final layer of noodles.
• Pour the remaining béchamel over the top, spreading it to cover the noodles completely. Combine the Gruyère and mozzarella and sprinkle evenly over the sauce.
  1 cup grated Gruyère cheese, 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Bake and serve

• Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 40 minutes.
• Remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes, until the noodles are tender and the top is golden brown and bubbling.
• Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Notes

• Nutrition values are an estimate only and are based on 8 servings
• Pumpkin: This recipe has been tested with both muscat and Hokkaido pumpkins. Use a cooking pumpkin weighing approximately 3–3⅓ pounds (1.4–1.5 kg). Roasting time and moisture content can vary; roast until the flesh is very tender and drain it if watery.
• Mashing the roasted pumpkin and stirring in finely chopped onion and garlic gives the filling a little texture. There is no need to blend it.
• Spinach: The 20-ounce weight is measured before thawing and squeezing. Squeeze very dry to avoid adding excess moisture, then divide evenly between the two spinach layers.
• Kale alternative: This recipe has also been tested with kale and is delicious, although the greens have a more substantial texture and require an extra cooking step. Replace the spinach with 1 medium bunch curly kale, stems removed and leaves chopped into small bite-sized pieces. Sauté in 1 tablespoon olive oil until softened, season with salt and pepper, and divide between the two greens layers.
• Noodles: Use no-boil lasagna noodles. The number needed will depend on their size; allow enough for six layers. Three noodles per layer were used during testing.
• Baking dish: Use a deep dish to accommodate all the layers. This recipe was tested in a rectangular dish measuring approximately 32 × 24 cm with a 4-litre capacity.

Nutrition

Calories: 726kcal | Carbohydrates: 92g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 1072mg | Potassium: 1882mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 13628IU | Vitamin C: 47mg | Calcium: 629mg | Iron: 5mg