Sausage Butternut Squash Lasagna

I have a friend who rarely eats pasta because she says she finds it boring. You can imagine how I took that comment. Pasta is my LIFE. Her experience in eating pasta had only involved bolognese or tomato sauce. So I wanted to create this recipe for Ciara so she could see how un-boring pasta could be.

Ingredients: 4-6 people

300g Lasagna (pre-cooked)

500g Sausages (without skins and crumbled)

300g Butternuts squash, chopped

100g Spinach

1 onion, finely chopped

500ml bechamel

80g Parmasan, grated

100g Provolone grated

100g Scamorza, grated (smoked mozzarella or semi soft cheese).

Dry Rosemary,

Ground Nutmeg

Olive Oil

Balsamic vinegar, a splash

• Preheat the oven to 200C
• First, put a good splash of olive oil into a large frying pan.  Add the finely chopped onions, soften and lightly brown them.
• Add the sausage meat and brown with the onions.
• Add the chopped butternut squash. Season with salt & pepper, add a good pinch of nutmeg, rosemary and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Stir all the ingredients together and cover the frying pan for 15-20 mins until the butternut squash softens. The mixture should now be all yummy & creamy.
• Add the spinach, stir & cook through.
• Add a good ladle of béchamel and mix that into the mixture. The sauce is now finished.
• Now in a buttered dish:
  • Lay the first layer of lasagana
  • A layer of the sausage & butternut squash sauce
  • A layer of besciamella
  • A layer of grated cheese (both provolone & scamorza)
  • A sprinkle of grated Parmesan
• Repeat that layer procedure at least 3 times.
• The last layer should be lasagna, béchamel & good sprinkle of parmesan
• Now its ready to bake. Look at how long it takes to cook the lasagna on the packet.

Tiny Italian Hint: Cover the lasagna with tin foil for at least two thirds of the cooking time, to ensure that the inside is well cooked and full of moisture. Then, remove the tin foil for the remainder of the cooking time to brown up the top layer nicely.

• When cooking time is done, remove from the oven and leave to cool down for 5 mins
• Then serve up the lushness!!! Enjoy people.

Tiny Italian Hint: Use this same mixture to fill cannelloni as an alternative, and top with the besciamella & cheese