Se Hace Camino Al Andar

Tonight’s dinner was the result of one accidental supermarket purchase and one impulsive supermarket purchase. Tonight’s dinner was originally supposed to be Butternut Squash Sage Cannelloni, from the November 09 issue of Everyday Food. I accidentally bought no-boil lasagna noodles, so the plan was quickly changed to regular old lasagna, since I wasn’t in the mood to experiment and find out what happens when you boil no-boil noodles.

Now, for the impulse buy. Are you ready for this? Ronnybrook Farms CINNAMON SUGAR BUTTER. Seriously. Please tell me, if you saw that on the shelf, you would not buy it. Ronnybrook Farms butter, by itself, is some of the yummiest and freshest butter you will taste, plus it comes in this really cute, round cup. Put some cinnamon and sugar in there, and I’m yours.

When I brought this butter home, I was thinking toast, in the morning. When I started prepping the squash, I decided to roast it, instead of boiling it, as the EF recipe directed. I spied the cinnamon sugar butter out of the corner of my eye, and hesitated not one second before smearing the flesh of the squash with it. Best decision I ever made.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Ingredients

Whole wheat lasagna noodles (boil, no-boil, whatever works for you)

container of ricotta cheese

Bechamel Sauce (use whatever recipe you have handy, but you’ll need to have whole milk, flour, butter, onion and fresh sage on hand)

Butternut Squash

Cinnamon Sugar butter, or cinnamon and sugar and butter.

Recipe

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut the butternut squash in half, the long way. Scoop out the seeds and discard.
3. Lay the two halves of the squash, flesh side up, in a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper, and smear some cinnamon sugar butter on there. Drizzle with some olive oil.
4. Roast in the oven, about 30-40 minutes. The flesh should be caramelized and fork-tender.
5. In the meantime, make your bechamel, if it’s not already made. One of the recipes I use for this calls for fresh thyme, and to remove the onion after cooking. I opted to dice the onion, and use fresh sage. I removed the sage leaves and left the onions in the sauce
6. When squash is done, remove from the oven and let cool to the touch. Scoop out flesh, and puree until smooth in a food processor with a little splash of milk or cream. Turn oven down to 400 degrees.
7. In a glass baking dish, build your lasagna layers. Spread some bechamel on the bottom of the pan. Place noodles on top of bechamel. Spread some more bechamel, then on each noodle, put a spoonful of the puree and spread to cover. Add another layer of noodles, placing a spoonful of ricotta cheese on each noodle and spread. Add some more puree and spread to cover. Add another layer of noodles, and alternate next few layers until you run out of ingredients, but the last layer should be bechamel and/or ricotta cheese. Season with salt and pepper as you go, according to taste.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and top is browned.
9. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.

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