Butternut Squash + Spinach Lasagna
Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks for the little things in life, as well as the big, not least of all our family and friends. I love that it's one of the biggest food holidays, as food has such a powerful way of gathering people together. Luckily, the food blogging community is all about these things as well. To celebrate the holiday, Meghan from Cake ‘n Knife and Susannah from Feast + West are hosting Blogsgiving Dinner. There are more than 60 blogs sharing recipes this week!
The idea is based on an old-fashioned potluck dinner party. Each blogger is bringing one or more dishes to the party, so be sure to stop by each one and get some ideas for your own Thanksgiving meal. I’ll be sharing some of my favorites this week on my Instagram with the hashtag #blogsgivingdinner, but you can see the whole menu in Part 1 and Part 2 of the recipe round-up.
I'm always trying to add vegetables to our meals, and this seasonal lasagna is perfect for that. It includes two veggies perfect for the season of fall, with a subtle flavor combination that is delicious. I think the sweetness of the butternut squash comes out just enough to counter the salty of the cheese, and the squash makes a fun twist to a regular marinara sauce.
We use brown rice pasta, which is gluten free and much more nutritious that regular white pasta, but feel free to use any lasagna pasta you can find! We find our brown rice pasta in the natural aisle of the grocery store.
You could also boil the pasta before baking it, but I don't like using more dishes than I have to, and I find that the noodles get just as tender without boiling, with maybe some slight crunchiness on the edges. If you do want to boil and bake, boil for 4 minutes and bake for 45.
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 15 ounce ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- 8 ounce block of mozzarella cheese
- 8 ounce bag of spinach
- 9 ounces lasagna
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F
- Use a large chef knife to cut off the skin of the butternut squash. Chop squash into cubes, making sure to scoop out and discard any seeds.
- Fill a medium size pot with about 2 cups of water, place a steamer basket in the pot and steam butternut squash for about 10 minutes, until tender.
- Transfer steamed squash to a blender along with salt and a little bit of the water it steamed in.
- Mix ricotta cheese and eggs together in a small bowl.
- Cover the bottom of a 9x13 in. baking dish with squash puree.
- Lay uncooked lasagna noodles over the puree, cover with ricotta, spinach and more puree.
- Repeat step 6 three or four times, until all your ingredients are used up.
- Slice mozzarella into thin slices and layer on top of the lasagna.
- Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 minutes until golden.
