Butternut squash and leek lasagne

We both love butternut squash, so when we saw them for sale on the market this weekend at a bargain price we couldn’t resist buying a couple. They are very versatile, and perhaps at their best when you just peel, slice and steam them, but as we had a bit more time for cooking that seemed a bit unadventurous. We decided to make a lasagne. Here’s what we did.

Method
Peel the squash and remove the seeds (if you have chickens, they love them, so give them a treat). Slice the squash into cubes about 1cm in size. Now wash your leeks and slice them lenthwise from top to bottom, then slice the lengths into smaller pieces, again about 1cm in width. Peel and dice a carrot, then put all of your vegetables into a large pan of water and boil for around 10 minutes to soften them up.

Deseeded butternut squash

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and drain your vegetables. Mash half of them and use these to line the bottom of a square or rectangular oven-proof dish, about 20cm (8in) square or equivalent, sprinkle with freshly-chopped rosemary (dried will do if you don’t have your own rosemary bush) then add a layer of pasta sheets and half of your white lasagne sauce. Add the remaining vegetables (not mashed this time so that you get some texture), followed by another layer of lasagne sheets and the remainder of your sauce.

Squash, leek and carrots, ready for the lasagne

Rosemary, freshly cut from the garden

Grate a cheese of your choice over the top. A strong cheese like a very mature cheddar is great as it contrasts well with the sweetness of the squash, but on this occasion we had some double Gloucester that needed using, so we used that instead. It is an orange cheese, so went well with the colour of the squash.

Lasagne ready for baking

Garnish with some more chopped rosemary and then bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the top is browned and the pasta fully cooked through. Serve with a green salad and warmed bread.

The lasagne is baked and ready to eat

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1. Squash and Dwarf French Beans
2. How to make rosemary and olive bread
3. Cornish pasty recipe
4. Our first yoghurt cheese
5. How to make cheese starter

Tagged as: butternut squash, lasagne, leek, rosemary, squash, vegetarian