Butternut Squash Lasagna

There's a restaurant in town that makes Butternut Squash Lasagna and it used to be Mark's favorite thing to eat. That is, until we discovered the Butternut Squash Ravioli at our favorite Italian restaurant. Delish. Every time I've eaten either one, I spend a good deal of time savoring each bite and trying to determine *exactly* what is in it and how I can replicate it at home. (Does anyone else do that?)

For years I have determined to come up with a butternut squash recipe that is at least similar to one of those two entrees.  I stumbled upon a recipe last week for Roasted Butternut and Sweet Potato Whole Wheat Lasagna and decided to try it.

It was amazing.

And if you try to tell me that you do not like squash, I.will.not.listen.  This was SO yummy and you must try it.

I made some changes to the recipe.  We didn't have whole wheat noodles, I used more mozzarella cheese, etc.  So the recipe below is how I made it, but it is adapted from this recipe from How Sweet It Is.


Butternut Squash Lasagna

12 cooked lasagna noodles

1/2 large roasted butternut squash (Slice it lengthwise, bake @ 400 degrees for about 40 minutes or until it's soft when you poke a fork into it.)  I bake my squash face up on a cookie sheet, and brush squash with a little melted butter.)

2 medium sweet potatoes (Cut in half, lengthwise and stick these on the pan with the squash- they will likely be done before the squash, though- so watch them.)

16 ounces mascarpone cheese, at room temperature (Trader Joes has this)

3 T butter

1-2 shallots, thinly sliced

3 cloves of garlic

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

1/4 tsp nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

a bunch of fresh sage leaves, chopped


When the squash and sweet potatoes are cooked, scoop out the insides and puree or blend or mash somehow- whichever method you'd prefer.  (You can do this step earlier in the day or the night before, too.)

Saute shallots and garlic in the butter for a few minutes.  When cooled, add mascarpone cheese, sage and half of the parmesan.

Layer lasagna in a 9x13 pan.  First mashed squash/sweet potato mix, then noodles, then cheese.  Repeat until you run out of ingredients.  (When I got to the cheese layers, I spread the mascarpone blend and then sprinkled a bit of mozzarella and parm.  Make sure to save some to top it all off.)

Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes.