Butternut squash lasagne with bechamel sauce

I made these for a dinner party before the holidays and almost forgot to take a photo, thanks to our guests for reminding me!  In any case, this is the only one I took, hopefully you get the idea.  This lasagne has butternut squash with sage and walnuts, yummy cheeses and a bechamel (white) sauce inside, and is served over cooked Kale.  I really cannot say enough about how deliciously this turned out, the squash and nuts and cheese were a rich and well-matched flavor combination.  It took a while to prepare (partly because I was inefficient, and partly because it is just complicated), but it was well worth it.  This is a great dish to serve if you want a vegetarian-friendly main course for a nice dinner, or really anytime.  I served it with more homemade bread from artisan bread in 15 minutes a day (a half white half whole wheat ciabatta loaf), and with braised leeks. I will definitely be making this again.... Yum.

The recipe is adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers.  I also have the companion book, Vegetable Soups and really like both of them.  I love her Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and use it as a reference but often find it daunting when I am just trying to come up with an idea for dinner starting from a blank slate.  These two books are much more accessible, with longer descriptions, serving suggestions (including wine pairings in the suppers book), lots of color photos, and a more curated selection of ideas, it feels like.  I have found all the recipes from both books that I have made so far to be really delicious - she does a great job combining flavors and the cooking techniques are thoughtful and well-matched to each dish, not cookie-cutter.  The suppers book presents itself as an everyday cookbook, but I have found so far that the dishes are more elaborate than I would normally make for an everyday meal - but knowing that, it has been a great resource for times when I want to make something more interesting and complex.  I would definitely recommend either or both books!

Butternut squash lasagne with Bechamel Sauce
Adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers

For the Bechamel:

• 3 1/2 cups milk (1% worked fine for me)
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and cut in half
• 1 slice or section of onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 1-2 parsley sprigs
• 3 1/2 teaspoons butter
• 3 1/2 teaspoons flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste

For the Lasagne Filling:

• 1 large butternut squash (2 1/2 - 3 lbs)
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 15-20 fresh sage leaves or 1 1/2 tablespoons dried
• 1/3-1/2 cup parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 cup finely chopped lightly toasted walnuts (or hazelnuts)
• salt and pepper to taste
• package no-boil lasagne noodles
• 1 cup grated gruyere cheese
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese

For the Kale:

• 2-3 bunches kale, washed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed/crushed or minced
• pinch of red pepper flakes (I used Aleppo flakes but regular would be fine)

Start by heating the milk in a small pot with the garlic, onion, bay and parsley.  Slowly heat the milk until it is almost boiling, then turn off the heat and cover the pot and let stand.

While the milk is sitting, peel and chop the squash into a rough dice of about 1/2" cubes.  Chop the garlic together with the sage and parsley - it may be easier to chop the garlic and herbs separately first and then chop them together.  Heat olive oil in a wide skillet or dutch oven, then cook onion and squash over medium high heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  You can preheat the oven to 375 F mid-way through cooking the squash.

While the squash is cooking, continue with the bechamel sauce - melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour (it will be pretty dry); add the milk, pouring through a strainer and whisking as you add it.  Turn the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until it thickens, then add salt and pepper.  I did this in a double-boiler and it took 25-30 minutes, but it may be quicker if you are cooking directly over the heat.

Meanwhile, after the 15 minutes, reduce the heat on the squash to medium-low and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the squash is pretty tender and starting to get brown in some places, another 5-10 minutes.  Add the garlic-herb mixture and the nuts and cook for another few minutes, then add salt and pepper and turn off heat.


To assemble the lasagne, butter or oil a 9"x12" baking dish, then spread 1/2 cup of the sauce in the bottom of the baking dish and then lay down 3 noodles (or however many will fit).  Cover with half the cooked squash mixture, then 1 cup of the sauce, half the gruyere and one third of the parmesan/romano (I used a mix of the two).  Add another 3 noodles and then repeat the other layers and cover with a final 3 noodles.  Spread the remaining sauce on top and then the remaining parmesan/romano and then cover loosely with aluminum foil.  Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and keep baking for another 20 minutes.  It will be bubbly and lightly brown at the edges.  Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

While the lasagne is cooking, prepare the kale.  Remove the stems and chop the kale into 1/2" strips/chunks.  Heat the oil in a skillet or pot and add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the pepper flakes and kale.  Add a pinch or two of salt and stir the kale to coat with oil, then add 2 cups of water.  Lower the heat and cook, covered, for 15-20 minutes, until the kale is tender.  Drain the kale or remove with tongs to serve - let drip so that it is not too soggy on the plates.  Serve each plate with kale topped with a square of lasagne (or the kale could be served on the side if you prefer).

Serves 6-8.

Delicious fall pizza with butternut squash and goat cheese

To celebrate delicious fall foods and our 6 month wedding anniversary, tonight I made one of my favorite pizzas for dinner.  This takes a bit more prep time than other pizzas, but it is so delicious it is definitely worth it.  Try it out for a special fall meal of your own!

Butternut squash, carmelized onion, and goat cheese pizza
Adapted from Entertaining for a Veggie Planet

• 1 batch pizza dough from recipe of your choice (as mentioned in a previous pizza post, I recommend the recipe from Animal Vegetable Miracle).
• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 -1/4" thick cubes
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced (optional - I didn't include in mine)
• olive oil
• 3 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 5-10 fresh sage leaves, chopped
• 3-6 ounces goat cheese/chevre
• parmesan to grate

Coat butternut squash with plenty of olive oil, mix in the garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Roast in a 400 degree oven on a baking sheet or in a pan until tender.  At the same time, carmelize the onions in a large skillet over medium heat - heat up 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and add the onions and cook until carmelized (will take 20-30 minutes), stirring occasionally.  Add a small amount of water if it starts to stick too much.

Roll out the pizza dough, and either put on a pizza peel covered with cornmeal (if using a baking stone in your oven) or in a baking sheet covered with cornmeal.  Spread butternut squash in an even layer on top, then spread carmelized onions over the squash and sprinkle sage over the top.  Finally, crumble the goat cheese over the top and then grate parmesan on top of that.  Bake at 450 for 15 minutes or so - until crust is lightly browned and cheese is appropriately melty.  Let cool slightly then slice and enjoy!

Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger Pear Compote, and Artisan Bread in 5 min a day

I was looking through my recipe box the other day and came upon a handwritten recipe from my mother for this soup.  It doesn't say where the recipe was from originally, but it sounded delicious and like just the thing for the start of fall.  I picked up fresh cider, pears and butternut squash at the farmers market and I was all set to try it out.  I have to say that this recipe had a lot of butter in it... my mom's notes indicated she had cut the butter in half, and I cut it in half again, and it still seemed like a lot to me.  I am sure the soup would be delicious with even more butter but it seems excessive to me - I think it would taste good using half butter and half vegetable oil and/or cutting down the amount of butter even further than I did.  In any case, it was a really great flavor combination and we enjoyed it a lot.

 

Butternut Squash Soup with Pear Ginger Compote

For the soup:

• 3 tablespoons butter (or less, or sub vegetable oil for part)
• 2 small chopped onions
• 2 lb butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-2" cubes (about 4-5 cups)
• 3 cups fresh apple cider

In a medium saucepa, melt butter and add onion, cook over medium heat until transparent.  Add squash and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add cider and bring to a simmer.  Lower heat and cover, and cook until squash is tender (about 1/2 hour or more).  Puree either with a hand blender or in a regular blender (being careful not to burn yourself).  Season with salt and pepper.

For the compote:

• 2-3 ripe pears, chopped with skin on
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger

In a medium skillet, melt butter and cook pears gently over low heat for 5 minutes.  Add ginger and continue cooking with lid on until tender (10-15 minutes).  Serve soup topped with a dollop of compote.

 

The other part of this meal was fresh homemade bread.  A few months ago I bought the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook, which I had been hearing all about and wanted to check out.  It has a lot of really great-looking recipes and I was excited to try their technique.  The basic idea is that you make a large batch of very wet bread dough and store it in your fridge for up to a couple weeks, and then you are able to take out a loaf's worth and cook it after a relatively short rise.  The wet dough keeps the bread moist and as the dough ages in the fridge it takes on a sourdough type of flavor.  I was tempted to jump right to one of the whole grain loaves, but they advise starting with the "master recipe" for a white bread boule, so I started there.  

Despite making a number of mistakes (like not putting enough flour on the dough when I was shaping it, and forgetting to slash the top before baking), the bread turned out to be really delicious!  The master recipe was published in the NYT a few years ago if you are interested in trying out the technique without buying the book yet...  Now I just have to decide what to do with the remainder of the dough I have saved... I am thinking probably pizza, but I am tempted to try another loaf of bread.