Pumpkin, Sage & Ricotta Lasagne

Readers, I have a secret.

I must confess that, for a seemingly inexplicable reason, I spent a period of time in my teenage years as – I can barely say it – well, as a vegetarian. I turned my nose up at the meat component of the evening meal and would devour only the vegetable portion of anything put in front of me. There were some limited exceptions, but largely I eschewed all things meat, chicken or fish-related. I can’t recall what inspired this attitude. There were no religious, moral or family reasons – I was the child of two very devoted carnivores! It is not as if I was particularly squeamish about meat, nor was I crusading for animal rights. It may have had something to do with being fed offal and all sorts of unusual meats from an early age – perhaps I’d overdosed on all things glutinous and gristly and needed a change!

Rest assured, the Omnivorous Period in my gastronomic history was not lengthy and has faded into distant memory, for as I approach my thirties you will be pleased to hear that I have embraced offal, game and charcuterie, have learned to appreciate a piece of beef cooked to the perfect shade of ‘blue’ and I attack a plate of seafood with great gusto!

However much I jest, I will say that this vegetarian stage has left me with something for which I am grateful, and that is my love for the humble veggie. I adore fresh produce, and love to visit the farmers market on weekends or, even better, come home from holiday visiting my parents with bundles of fresh greenery from my mum’s garden. There is so much to be done with a supply of glorious veggies.

Fortunately, I have also married a man who is happy to eat what is put in front of him, whether animal, vegetable or mineral (or, more likely, pulse and grain), and the end result is that whilst we are avid carnivores in this household, a large percentage of the midweek menu at Whisk & Whimsy HQ are meals served sans meat. This come as a surprise those of you who read my Piggy Post!

One of our favourite light and delicious (and vegetarian-friendly) dinners is this tasty lasagne, packed full of delicious, sweet butternut squash – it serves 6 with some leftovers, so it does us for a few lunches following the main event. Admittedly it is not a quick meal and does involve a little bit of preparation, but it's definitely worth it and produces delicate but complex flavours.

Pumpkin, Sage and Ricotta Lasagne
with Walnut Brown Butter
(serves 6)

What you need :

• 375g pkg fresh lasagne sheets*
• 1.5kg butternut pumpkin (or a combination of butternut and jap or queensland blue), peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• a good glug of olive oil - abbout 2 tbs
• inch of sugar
• ½-1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 2 tbs chopped sage, plus about ¼ cup whole sage leaves to serve
• 500g ricotta cheese (I use full fat – it’s up to you on this one)
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese (plus extra for the topping)
• ¼ cup mascarpone (or cream cheese)
• ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 small eggs or 1 jumbo egg, beaten
  100g unsalted butter
• ¼ cup roughly chopped walnuts

What to do:

Preheat oven to 180° fan-forced (a little hotter if conventional).

Place the pumpkin in a bowl with olive oil, sugar and chilli flakes, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Transfer the pumpkin to a baking tray, cover with foil and roast for approximately 30 minutes, or until pumpkin is tender when pierced with a fork. Allow to cool slightly. In a bowl, mash the pumpkin (and the roasting juices) with a fork until reasonably smooth (but a few lumps are fine -it doesn't need to be perfect!). Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Stir through the chopped sage leaves and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, combine the ricotta, mascarpone and ½ cup parmesan cheese with a little salt and pepper. Stir through the beaten egg and nutmeg. If you want a smooth cheese mixture, you can pulse this mix in a food processor, but I am just as happy to combine it with a fork – my lasagne might just be a bit more rustic than yours!

Lightly grease a deep (approx. 25 x 30cm) lasagne dish and begin layering the lasagne. Start with lasagne sheets on the bottom (you might need to cut them to fit the dish) and add half the pumpkin mixture. Add another layer of lasagne sheets, and then use half the cheese mixture and spread it evenly on top of the pasta. Continue with the layering, using the remaining pumpkin and cheese mixtures and finishing with the cheese mixture on top. Grate a little extra parmesan cheese over the top of the final cheese layer.

Cover with foil (you may need to tent the foil a little so that it is not directly touching the cheese). Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for a further 20 minutes or until a lovely golden brown colour. Let the lasagne stand for about 5 minutes before slicing, in which time you can make the butter sauce.

For the browned butter:

Melt the butter over medium heat and, once the foaming has subsided, tip in the sage leaves and walnuts. Allow to sizzle for about 2 minutes, keeping an eye on the walnuts and making sure they do not burn. You want the butter to take on a light golden brown shade (but not to burn!), and your sage leaves will be deliciously crispy.

Serve slices of the lasagne topped with a drizzling of the sage walnut butter.

Enjoy!

* NOTE: You will have some leftovers of the lasagne sheets. How much you use will depend on the size of your lasagne dish, but I usually have a few sheets left over which I wrap in plastic and freeze for later use.