I love sweet potato, pumpkin, butternut squash. The sweet tasty aftermath that is left in the mouth is scrumptious! My family does not usually like it, so I still work hard on testing recipes to see if they will like it.
I came up thru this recipe while using Pinterest, and the mix of Spinach with the Butternut Squash got me drooling! let alone Ricotta cheese in it, looked delicious! and well fit for my meatless cooking day! This also does well being a side dish since it is meatless and it is great for vegetarian people.
The recipe is a vegetarian lasagna that calls for creamy texture and sweetness added to it. My family liked it so definitely it will be on my meatless meal list!
Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna
Ingredients
Butternut Squash Filling:
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup milk plus 2 tbsp
- 1/3 teaspoon of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Spinach Filling:
- 1 cup cooked spinach (8 oz uncooked)
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- pepper, to taste
Other Ingredients:
- 10 oz lasagna noodles, cooked
- 1 and 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (or
more)
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (Optional – I did
not use)
- Paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F / 190 C.
Butternut
Squash Filling:
- To do the butternut squat filling, you
would need to cut in half one butternut squat, remove seeds, and close it up in
aluminum foil. Place in oven and bake
for 30min or until it is soft. Once
cooked, spoon out the meat and blend it until pureed. To complete the filling, blend 2 cups of
butternut squash puree with Ricotta
cheese, milk, salt and nutmeg. Add more milk if needed (to make the butternut
squash filling very creamy). Mix very well, taste and add more salt, if needed.
Spinach
Filling:
- Combine spinach, Ricotta cheese,
mozzarella, garlic, salt and pepper.
Cooking
lasagna noodles:
- Bring a very large pot of water to
boil, and cook lasagna noodles according to package instructions. Rinse in cold
water, drain.
Lasagna
assembly:
- Grease the lasagna dish lightly with butter.
Spread 1/3 of butternut squash filling on the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle
lightly with mozzarella cheese. Top with cooked lasagna noodles without
overlapping.
- Spread half of spinach filling over the
noodles. Top lightly with Mozzarella cheese. Top with cooked noodles.
- Spread another layer (1/3) of butternut
squash mixture, then sprinkle lightly with Mozzarella cheese. Top with cooked
noodles.
- Spread the remaining half of spinach
filling over the noodles. Top lightly with Mozzarella cheese. Top with the
final layer of cooked noodles.
- Spread a generous amount of butternut
squash filling (the remaining 1/3) over this final layer of noodles, sprinkle
with grated Parmesan and remaining mozzarella cheese (about 1/2 cup of
mozzarella). Generously sprinkle the cheese with paprika if desired.
- Cover
the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 min. Remove foil and bake additional
10 minutes.
