Cheesy roasted squash lasagne with spinach and walnut pesto
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Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash , fairly large (if you’re buying the flesh pre-cut, you’ll need about 500g)
- 2 tbsp of oil
- salt
- black pepper
- 35g of walnuts
- 1 garlic clove
- 40g of spinach
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 20g of butter
- 2 tbsp of plain flour
- 250ml of milk
- 1 pinch of ground nutmeg
- 120g of cheddar , grated
- 150g of lasagne pasta , no-boil
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6
2
Peel the squash, remove the seeds and cut into 1cm dice. Toss it with a little cooking oil, and season with salt and pepper. Lay it out in a single layer on a baking tray, and roast for 30-40 minutes, until soft and just beginning to crisp up on the edges
3
While the squash is roasting, place the walnuts, garlic and spinach in a food processor, and blitz until a coarse paste is formed. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, and process again to combine. Set aside
4
Melt the butter in a saucepan and, over a low heat, add the flour. Whisk continually for a minute or two to cook the flour, then add the milk around 50ml at a time, continuing to whisk. Wait until each portion of milk is well combined and the mixture is smooth before adding the next amount
5
When you have used all the milk and the mixture has created a smooth sauce that has thickened slightly, season and add a pinch of nutmeg and just over half of the grated cheese (around 70g)
6
Remove from the heat, and stir for one more minute until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth again
7
When the squash is cooked, transfer it to a bowl and mash coarsely with a fork. Alternatively, if you would like your squash purée to be really smooth, you could blitz it in your food processor
8
Turn the oven down to 190°C/gas mark 5
9
It’s now time to layer up your lasagne. Start with a spoonful or two of the cheese sauce, and spread it across the bottom of a baking dish (mine measures 10 x 6 inches) - you only need a very thin layer to stop the pasta from sticking
10
Add a layer of lasagne sheets (just break them up to fit your dish)
11
From now on, it doesn’t really matter what order you layer things up, but I made mine in this order:
Add half of the squash mixture and spread it around with a fork. Add a layer of lasagne, then half of the remaining cheese sauce, spreading it around to cover the lasagne sheets
12
Add the remaining grated cheese, you should have about 50g left for this,
I also like to add a little more black pepper on top
13
Bake the lasagne, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown and the pasta is soft. If you find the cheese is browning too quickly, cover the dish with foil and continue to cook until the pasta is soft. Leave to stand for 5 minutes before cutting
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Cheesy roasted squash lasagne with spinach and walnut pesto
