Fall. So beautiful--its been really lovely this fall, with lots of sunshine to go with the brilliant colored leaves. Today I enjoyed a day out at a pumpkin patch and then home for raking leaves. To top off this day, I decided to make a hearty fall casserole. This one takes some pre-planning, but the results are really worth it.
Time: 2 hours
Ingredients
1 pound butternut squashed, peeled and cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup water
2-3 Tbs. olive oil
1 12 oz package frozen spinach
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 C. cottage cheese (full fat)
1 egg
1/2 C. Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 pound mozzerella, grated
1 box quick-cook lasagna noodles
Getting started--there are several components that you have to prep first. I put the instructions in order so that everything is ready to go.
I soaked the noodles for about 30 minutes--since there isn't a wet tomato sauce in this casserole, I wasn't sure that there would be enough moisture to cook while baking, so I soaked them until tender in a pan.
Preheat the oven to 350. Toss the butternut squash and 1/2 of an onion with olive oil and spread into a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet (I wished I had chopped the onions smaller or maybe used my Blendtec instead of the food processor). Bake for about 40 minutes until squash is tender. Remove from oven and puree in food processor with about 1/2 cup of water. Add salt and pepper to taste. (don't turn the oven off since you are going to put the finished casserole back in the oven after you assemble).
Now that the squash is cooking, work on the spinach. Pre heat a saucepan and add the olive oil, spinach and about 1/4 of the onion. Cook for about 6-7 minutes until spinach and onions are tender. Add the chopped garlic and saute for another 30 seconds before removing from the heat. Salt and pepper to taste.
In a bowl, mix the cottage cheese, egg, basil, parsley and pepper and mix thoroughly. Do not add salt since the cheese is already salty.
Now you are ready to assemble! I used a small disposable pan, which wasn't quite big enough--next time I'd use a deep casserole dish (deeper than a standard 9x12 pan). Spread some squash mix on the bottom of the pan. Lay down noodles to make a single layer. I kept my layers of filling fairly thin--because the texture and chewiness of the noodle is a good contrast of the soft fillings-so I have about 2x the amount of noodle than I would in a regular lasagna. Spread more squash, then cheese mixture, then spinach and then mozzarella. Then lay down more noodles and repeat until your pan is full. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes until all bubbly.
This was really tasty. I'm pretty excited about leftovers for lunch this week!
