PUMPKIN & SAGE LASAGNA

Now the classic lasagna is a layered Italian oven baked dish built from alternating sheets of pasta, rich ragù (slow cooked meat sauce typically made from beef or a mix of beef and pork with tomatoes and aromatics), creamy béchamel (white sauce), and generous amounts of grated cheese, often Parmesan and mozzarella. Finished in the oven until bubbling and golden, it’s hearty, comforting, and designed to be sliced into substantial portions so each mouthful delivers pasta, savoury meat, silky sauce and melted cheese in perfect, glorious harmony.

My pumpkin and sage version is the perfectly creamy and spice vegetarian take on the classic. Layers of a spiced pumpkin puree, classic nutmeg béchamel, punches of sweet zucchini, fragrant sage and of course lots of cheese to bring it all together. It’s super customisable and you can add more thinly sliced vegetables to pump up the health as well. It’s a perfect carb combination of sweet and salty and I don’t think it gets much better when talking about vegetable based tray bakes that are a crowd pleasers or are perfect for a few nights of leftovers in a row.

My tray bake yields a solid filling six pieces or slightly smaller eight pieces and that works great with a light leaf salad to fill it out. Also feel free to make the pumpkin puree and roll it through pasta for a sauce or even a base for some rice and vegetables, it’s stupid delicious.

PUMPKIN & SAGE LASAGNA

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PUMPKIN & SAGE LASAGNA 〰️

Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius

Pumpkin Puree

1 whole butternut pumpkin

5 sage leaves

1 baby onion, rough chop

1/4 nutmeg, freshly grated

1/4 cup olive oil

150gm sour cream

Salt

Start removing skin of pumpkin and chop into small cubes. Add to baking tray and cover with foil. Cook in oven until soft and fork can easily pierce, this will depend on the size you cut the pumpkin but around 45-60 minutes will be around the mark.

Remove from oven and blitz with sage, onion, nutmeg, olive oil, sour cream and salt to taste. Slowly add cold water at the end and blitz until you have a smooth puree texture.

Bechamel

100gm butter

100gm plain flour

1 litre milk

1/2 nutmeg, freshly microplaned

Salt, to taste

Melt butter in deep pot over high heat and as soon its melted, stir in flour and cook for a minute. Add in your milk and then whisk hard until béchamel thickens but you want it still have a loosish feel, so not as thick as a typical béchamel. Grate in fresh nutmeg to taste in with some salt to taste.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

The Build

300gm dry lasagna sheets

10-12 med-large sage leaves, chiffonade

2 baby onions, diced

1 large zucchini, sliced

2 fior di latte ball, thinly sliced

200gm grana padano

On the bottom of your baking tray spread some béchamel & pumpkin puree before layering DRY lasagna sheets. You don’t need to pre cook the pasta for this recipe. Spread some pumpkin puree before drizzling on béchamel, then zucchini slices, onion, sage, and a layer of finely grated grana padano. Repeat this step. Then repeat two more times but add the fior di latte pieces. Before one final layer, but don’t add any cheese yet. Cover with foil and cook in oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and turn it to grill on the highest setting. Cover lasagna in extra fir di latte and grated grana padano so its covered and drizzle on some olive oil. Cook in oven for 8-10 minutes, or until you have a deep beautiful char (if its taking a while, whack it on grill and let it sizzle). Remove and let rest for 30 minutes before cutting into and serving. Freeze what you don’t eat. Should give you 8 solid servings all up.