Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna!!

I love to cook. I almost went to chef school instead of medical school. The chefs I know work VERY long hours though, probably more than a doctor! When it came time to decide sunny Grenada won out over rainy, cold Culinary Institute in NY. So now I get to make up recipes without the stress of running a restaurant.

So this recipe came about partly from the delicious “Summer Lasagne” I get at Crazy Uncle Mike’s in Boca Raton. My favorite brewery/pub that you can read about under “Corona friendly restaurants” up top. I had a large butternut squash that I needed to do something with and a huge bag of baby spinach. We also constantly have a batch of “Sunday Sauce” around and you can read that recipe as well up on top. It was easy and came out AMAZING….I didn’t have lasagne noodles so I substituted ziti. You can use whatever you’d like. I also think it would be great with either chickpea or lentil pasta! Here we go!

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna (makes 2 medium trays)

• 1 Butternut Squash peeled and sliced 1/4″
• 1 large bag of organic baby spinach
• Sunday sauce or any good jarred marinara sauce is fine….I LOVE Michaels of Brooklyn!
• 1 Qt of good ricotta , I love Galbani’s
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan or Asiago cheese (1/2 cup goes in ricotta)
• 8 oz shredded mozzarella
• chopped fresh basil…..as much as you like! I used about a handfull
• 1/4 bunch of chopped parsley
• salt and pepper
• 1 + lbs of lasagna noodles or pasta of choice
• Chopped mixed cherry tomatoes

Peel and seed the squash and slice it into 1/4″ slices. Cook the pasta according to directions ( al dente) and toss with a little olive oil to keep it from sticking. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the ricotta with 2 eggs, some chopped fresh or dry basil, salt and pepper and 1/2 cup of the grated cheese and parsley. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and toss with a little olive oil , salt and pepper and fresh basil. Set it aside…..this goes on TOP.

Now we assemble the lasagna! Put about 1 large ladle of sauce in the bottom of the pan. Next the first layer of pasta. Then a layer of butternut squash, spinach on top of that. Place some dollops of ricotta over that, some more marinara and a scattering of the grated cheese. REPEAT…..you’ll end up with about 3 layers with noodles on the top. Scatter the cherry tomatoes, a little more sauce and more grated cheese and the shredded mozzarella. BOOOM….that’s it!!

Cover it with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for an hour. You can uncover it and cook for around 15 more minutes to get a nice brown on the tomatoes and cheese. Let it sit for about 30 minutes so the ricotta “sets”. Then ENJOY. We had it with a nice salad, crusty bread and a bottle of Pinot Noir. The recipe makes 2 medium size trays (the disposable catering type) and one tray easily fed 6 and we had one to freeze for later! Let me know if you change it up and make it your own! Buon Appetito!