Tasty Retreat

Last week, my friend from high school, Jess, shared a butternut squash lasagna recipe with me. It took all of thirty seconds for me to turn to John and tell him I was making it the next weekend.

My biggest issue with lasagna is the massive quantity of cheese that usually accompanies it. I love cheese — adore it, can’t live without it — but let’s not pretend it’s healthy. And while we’re not pretending, who wants to substitute fat-free cheese that isn’t going to melt in their lasagna? Not this girl. Therefore, we don’t see too many lasagnas ’round these parts.

So yes, this recipe an indulgence, but it’s every bit as delicious as it sounds. And once in a while, a big slice of cheesey gooey wonderful lasagna ain’t bad. (If it helps, I substituted part-skim ricotta, which tastes just as good as the whole milk variety.)

The recipe below for the butternut squash filling is pretty basic. You could add any number of ingredients to the squash before puréeing it to enhance the flavors, though.
- Sautéed apples
- Roasted onions
- Crushed hazelnuts
- Additional herbs

… and if you use store-bought pasta, this comes together quickly. I apparently have to do things the hard way (which is usually the very tasty way), so I made a few sheets of fresh sage pasta. Do I regret it? Not at all.

I was too busy rolling out pasta and stealing bites of the squash purée to take pictures. Apologies.

Here’s the final product:

Continue reading Butternut Squash Lasagna