Tomato and butternut squash rotolo
Rotolo – an Italian dish of pasta sheets rolled up around a filling then baked in a sauce – is worthy of any special occasion. In this recipe, the filling of cream cheese, hazelnuts and caramelised butternut squash meets a sweet and silky tomato sauce and a final grating of Berkswell cheese for a twist on the classic.
Paul says: 'Mutti's passata is full of flavour, meaning you don't have to add a lot to it to make it stand out against the cheese and squash. The velvety texture also creates a smooth, sweet base that brings all the other elements of the dish together.'
Ingredients
- 8 sheets of lasagne pasta , dried
- vegetable oil, for frying
- 2 butternut squash , peeled and finely diced
- 3 tsp ground cumin
- 200g of cream cheese
- 50g of blanched hazelnuts , roughly chopped and toasted
- 10 parsley leaves , roughly chopped
- 800g of passata
- 1 shallot , finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
- 10 sage leaves
- 1 lemon , zested
- 100g of Berkswell cheese
- sea salt
Method
Begin by cooking the pasta. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Drop in the lasagne sheets separately so that they don’t all stick together. Cook for 3–5 minutes until they have started to soften and are flexible but not fully cooked. At this stage, remove from the water and drop into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking
- 8 sheets of lasagne pasta , dried
Place a medium pan over a high heat with a generous dash of oil. Add the diced butternut squash with a good pinch of salt and cook until it starts to soften slightly. Add the cumin, then cover with a lid, turn down the heat and cook for a further 8–10 minutes until completely softened. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool slightly
- vegetable oil, for frying
- 2 butternut squash , peeled and finely diced
- sea salt
- 3 tsp ground cumin
Once cooled, add the cream cheese, chopped hazelnuts, chopped parsley and a little lemon zest. Mix well and leave to cool completely
- 200g of cream cheese
- 50g of blanched hazelnuts , roughly chopped and toasted
- 10 parsley leaves , roughly chopped
- 1 lemon , zested
Next, make the tomato sauce. Heat a pan over a medium heat and add a small amount of oil with the diced shallot, garlic and a pinch of salt. Once softened, finely slice the sage and add to the pan, remove from the heat and pour in the passata
- 1 shallot , finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
- 800g of passata
To assemble, lay out the lasagne sheets lengthways and add a good amount of filling along the bottom third of each sheet. Roll the pasta sheet up so that the filling is completely wrapped. Repeat with all of the lasagne sheets until you have run out of filling, then slice each roll into 3
Preheat an oven to 160ºC/gas mark 3. Place half of the sauce in the bottom of a wide pan or baking dish, arrange the rolls face-up into the pan and then cover with the rest of the sauce. Generously grate over the Berkswell Cheese then bake for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is golden and the pasta is fully cooked
- 100g of Berkswell cheese
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Tomato and butternut squash rotolo
