Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato & Mascarpone Lasagna

This lasagna is good. I don’t mean for that to sound generic. By saying it’s good, I mean it is really, really, really good in a “oh my gosh, how am I just now finding out about this” type of way. This has to be one of my favorite recipes I’ve tried so far. It sounded a little different, so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I can tell you that these flavors all melt together perfectly. This just might be one of the perfect fall foods.

I came across this idea after buying a gigantic butternut squash at the farmers’ market. I’ve always like butternut squash, but this recipe has given me a new reason to love it.

Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato & Mascarpone Lasagna

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

Makes 8x8 pan

9-12 lasagna noodle sheets

1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

12 ounces mascarpone cheese

1-1.5 tbsp unsalted butter

1 shallot, diced (can substitute sweet onion)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

olive oil for drizzling


The first time I made this recipe, I used two 7 oz ramekins. To do that, I made a 1/3 of the recipe. My reasoning was that my husband tends to not see lasagna without meat as being real food. I had my doubts he would help eat any, so I did not want an entire pan left over. Once I realized this lasagna was absolutely delicious, I made a full pan to take over to my in-laws, where it was well received and quickly gobbled up.

Now, here’s how to make this gorgeous, fall lasagna:

Preheat oven to 350. Peel and chop the butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place the squash and potatoes on the foil and drizzle with olive oil. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Toss so that all the pieces are coated. Bake for 50 minutes until soft.

In the meantime, cook the lasagna noodles. Once the noodles are cooked, I set them out on wax paper so they don’t stick.

Next, melt the butter in a small skillet. Add the shallots and garlic. Heat on low and cook until they start to caramelize. Combine the caramelized shallots with the mascarpone and about ¾ cup of the parmesan.

Once the squash and sweet potatoes are out of the oven, use a fork or potato masher to mash them. When I made the full batch, I threw them in my electric mixer.

I took pictures of the batch I made in ramekins, so that’s what I’ll describe here. The layers are the same for a full pan- noodle, squash mixture, mascarpone mixture, mozzarella/parmesan, noodle, etc.

For the ramekins, I began by spraying them with non-stick spray. Next, I put my noodles down by crossing them in a "T" pattern, pressing them down in the ramekin with the sides still hanging over.

Spread some of the squash and sweet potato mixture in the bottom.

Then spread some of the mascarpone mixture. Top that with some of the shredded mozzarella and parmesan.

Fold one set of the arms over the top of the cheese. Begin the process again with the squash, followed by the mascarpone and shredded cheese.

Fold the final set of arms over the top, and repeat with the squash and mascarpone. Top with the shredded cheese.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes. If using the 8x8 pan, bake for about 45 minutes.

I’m trying to figure out a version for my husband that adds meat. Bacon? Andouille sausage? I’m sure I’ll be making this enough to try all the different variations.

Just look at those beautiful fall colors. Trust me, it tastes as good as it looks. C’mon, try this recipe. You know you want to.

Chipotle Pasta

A couple months ago, I ran across a great recipe for chipotle chicken pasta. I decided to incorporate the sauce into another recipe. This dish was originally planned with scallops, but was converted to shrimp when scallops weren’t available.

Shrimp & Pasta in a Chipotle Cream Sauce:
• 1 lb shrimp
• ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• ½ lb cooked linguine
• 1 tbsp butter
• ½ cup chicken stock
• 2 chipotles canned in adobo sauce
• ½ cup cream or fat free half and half
• ¼ cup shredded parmesan

I began by marinating 1 pound of shrimp in ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil, ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar, a clove minced garlic, 1 tsp brown sugar, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp butter in a skillet to cook the shrimp. When shrimp is done, remove to another plate.

Add ½ cup chicken stock to the remaining melted butter in the skillet, along with two diced chipotles. Let the chicken stock simmer to about half. Add ¼ cream and ¼ cup fat free half and half. (Or simply ½ cup cream or ½ cup half and half, depending on your preference.) Let the sauce simmer until thickened. Add ¼ cup shredded parmesan and stir until melted. Add cooked linguine to the sauce and toss to coat. Top with shrimp.

You may have noticed that I’ve included a lot of recipes with chipotle. As an explanation, here’s a picture of my husband’s hot sauce collection:

He needs a hot sauce fridge about as much as I need a cheese fridge. Chipotle is a good compromise as far as heat level.

Chipotle Chicken Pasta

There was a situation on this blog that had to be remedied.  So far I have only had one pasta post, which could probably be considered a horrifying breach of cooking blog etiquette. 

I have always adored pasta.  In fact, the one Reading Rainbow episode I can recall from childhood was the one where they visited the pasta factory.  I was probably about five or six years old, but I vividly remember being in awe as I watched the tortellini making process.  I guess that was either an example of my love for pasta, or perhaps just an early indication of my future cooking obsession.   (Yes, I did check YouTube for that Reading Rainbow clip, which sadly was nowhere to be found.) The recipe I made for this post uses farfalle (bowtie) pasta, which alone is enough reason to make me want to try the dish.  I remember growing up in a house where my mother kept an extensive collection of pasta.   Even as an adult, I still think it’s pretty awesome that pasta comes in cool shapes like bowties, shells, or wagon wheels.  

I actually didn’t start my recipe search looking specifically for pasta.  I was really looking for something to use the rest of my chipotles with.  The problem with constantly trying new recipes is that I am also constantly buying different ingredients.  Sometimes it can be hard to find things to use these ingredients in again, but I’ve been making an attempt to better utilize all the items currently overflowing my cabinets. As for my leftover chipotles, I was lucky enough to run across Homemade By Holman’s Chipotle Chicken Pasta. 

Chipotle Chicken Pasta

Adapted from Homemade By Holman

1/2 lb farfalle (bowtie) pasta

12 oz of chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1/8 cup lime juice

2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 tsp ancho chili powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large red bell pepper, diced

½ red onion, diced

3 minced chipotle pepper, canned in adobo sauce

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Marinate chicken in lime juice, 1 clove minced garlic, chili powder, salt, and half the cilantro.  Cook pasta according to directions.  In the meantime, heat olive oil in 12 inch skillet.  Cook the chicken, red bell pepper, onion and 1 clove minced garlic for about five minutes. 

Add the chicken stock and chipotles and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add the cooked pasta.  Turn the heat to low and add the cream and parmesan, stirring to coat.  Continue to cook for a couple minutes to allow the sauce to thicken a little.  Remove from heat and sprinkle with the remaining cilantro.

 

You’ll notice that I tweaked the recipe a bit to my liking.  First off, I tend to like shredded chicken in dishes more than I do chunks of chicken.  Because of this, I used pre-cooked shredded chicken. I still let my chicken sit in the lime liquid mixture for a few minutes.  I also went with all red bell pepper.  The biggest change I made was to use more chipotle than the original recipe called for.  I found the three chipotles to be the perfect amount.  They added just the right amount of smoky heat to the pasta, but didn’t have so much heat that my mouth was left burning.  There was far more flavor than heat.  Finally, I made up a little bit more sauce.

If I tried this again, I’d try using fat free half and half instead of the cream.  I’ve found that fat free half and half makes for a good substitute for cream in some pasta dishes.  It probably wouldn’t work as well in a cream heavy alfredo type sauce, but I have a feeling it might work fine for this type of lighter sauce.

My husband and I were both thrilled with this recipe. Not only did the flavors combine wonderfully, but it was simple and quick to make.  I have plans to mess with the recipe a little more.  I think I might have to try a future version with white cheddar and a little more chipotle.  It would also be pretty good with peas added in.   Suddenly I am also envisioning a chipotle cream sauce on linguine with red and yellow pepper strips and scallops.  Needless to say, I’m sure this recipe will provide a good base for lots of different variations. 

Lasagna Roll-Ups

I decided to make something pretty simple and quick tonight.  I hadn’t made lasagna roll-ups in awhile, so I decided it sounded like a good Monday night dinner. I’m sure there are plenty of lasagna roll-up recipes out there, but I don’t really follow a set recipe. I’ve made enough lasagna and manicotti before to have a pretty good handle on what goes into the filling.  Here’s what I ended up with: 

Cook 10 lasagna noodles according to package.  In the meantime, mix the following:

15 oz container of low fat ricotta

1 cup shredded mozzarella (part skim)

1 cup shredded parmesan

3 cloves minced garlic

1 egg

salt & pepper to taste

When the noodles are finished, spread them out on a piece of foil.  Place some spoonfuls of the ricotta mixture on the noodles and spread down each noodle.  It doesn’t have to be precise, as evidenced by the picture below:

Coat the bottom of an 8x8 pan with a little of your favorite spaghetti sauce.  Starting at the end of the noodle, roll each noodle up. 

Arrange in the pan.  Cover with the spaghetti sauce.  Cover the pan with foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  At the end of the 30 minutes, remove foil.  Sprinkle some mozzarella on top and back for another 5-10 minutes. 

If you are cooking for someone who seems to think every meal should contain meat (like my husband), you can sprinkle some cooked ground hamburger or sausage on the noodles before rolling them up.  I cooked about half the roll-ups tonight with a little bit of hamburger. 

You may notice that I used low fat mozzarella and ricotta.  I’ve started a habit of doing this with any recipe that calls for the two.   Maybe I’m just used to it, but I don’t think it sacrifices quality.  It also makes the dish a little healthier.  (For those of you keeping track, the purchase of mozzarella for this recipe brings the total number of cheese types in my fridge up to 18.)

My secret ingredient this time was the spaghetti sauce.  I used some Garozzo’s Sugo sauce.  If any of you are ever in the Kansas City area, you have to stop and eat at Garozzo’s.  I was more than pleased to find out that they bottle and sell their signature Sugo sauce. 

We decided to pair our lasagna roll-ups with a starter salad of baby greens, blue cheese crumbles, and balsamic vinaigrette. 

We weren’t the only ones who enjoyed supper.  My “helpers” are always excited when I cook something involving shredded cheese.  I’m a pretty messy cook, so there’s about a 90% chance some of the shredded cheese will end up raining down on them.  They spend a good part of the prep time at my feet, staring up at me and licking their chops. 

I have to admit they’re pretty handy with the clean up.