Squash Lasagne- Gluten Free

Ingredients:

one packet Gluten-Free lasagna noodles
One butternut, kabocha, or hubbard squash (if hubbard, you will have left over squash puree).
One bunch tender kale (lacinato or young curly russian) or spinach or collard greens
8 cremini mushrooms, sliced
One onion, medium chop
4-6 cloves garlic
homemade or your favorite store bought marinara
1 container ricotta cheese
1 wedge of romano cheese (is this the goat…or is it pecorino? )
optional 1 pound ground meat with a tablespoon of thyme, basil, and oregano

Cooking:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

A Hubbard squash, freshly broken

First, cut the squash in half. This will be easy if you are using a kabocha or butternut squash. If you are using a hubbard squash, then you may need a cleaver, or to drop it from a tall height onto concrete to break open the rind. I’ll admit, I very much enjoy breaking open a hubbard.

Remove the seeds and stringy guts with a spoon. Place the halves or quarters of squash face down into a casserole dish or pie pan filled with 1/2 in. of water. Bake for 40 minutes, or until tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to boil on the stove. Add the GF lasagna noodles and cook according to the package. Since you will be baking the lasagna, you want the noodles to be al dente.

If you are using ground beef, add the beef with a tablespoon of oregano, thyme, and dried basil , and a minced garlic clove to a skillet. Brown the meat with the spices and set aside.

Next: dice the onions and slice the mushrooms. Add the onions to a skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil and sautee until they begin to become transparent, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and an additional tablespoon of oil. Sauté until the mushrooms become tender, about five minutes.

Now the squash has probably cooled enough for handling. Use a large spoon to scoop the squash from the rind and put it in a food processor or blender. Puree in batches until you have a nice smooth squash puree.

Now you have all of your ingredients ready to layer. In a large casserole dish start layering your lasagna. You can place a layer of noodles down first, then use a rubber spatula to spread a layer of squash puree, next some onions, mushrooms, then some ricotta dollops, optional meat, a layer of greens, and then pour some marinara over this layer and microplane a garlic clove over the sauce.