Butternut squash lasagna with fresh tomatoes & spinach

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This butternut squash lasagna, made with fresh tomatoes and spinach is bursting with Autumn colours. I used the last of the fresh Irish tomatoes I had to make my own tomato sauce (you can of course just use tinned tomatoes) with a bit of tomato paste to make it thicker. There is no béchamel/white sauce as it didn’t need it and it makes it slightly healthier too. I added some fresh spinach as I previously made it without and felt it was lacking just one more flavour. The lasagna itself is meat-free but you can of course add lentils or meat if you want. Making your own tomato sauce is really easy by the way, if you get the right tomatoes. The ones I used for example resulted in a light sauce, so I added tomato puree to thicken it. You can also store the remaining sauce in the fridge and use it the next day for another meal. I added garlic, onion and loads of herbs to my sauce but you can come up with your own herb combination of course.

Butternut squash lasagna with fresh tomatoes & spinach

Butternut squash lasagna with fresh tomatoes & spinach

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Ingredients:

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1.5kg tomatoes plum tomatoes, San Marzano or Roma are the best
1 large (red) onion
2 large cloves of garlic
2tablespoons oregano
2tablespoons thyme
2tablespoons dried basil
2tablespoons paprika powder
20g fresh basil
140g tomato paste
300g baby spinach
2 butternut squashes
2tablespoons sage
1tablespoon nutmeg
250ml soy cream you can use regular cream as well
250g grated mozzarella
1 mozzarella ball
pepper
6 lasagna sheets

Directions

1.
We start with the tomato sauce
Chop the tomatoes in quarters. Slice the onion and flatten the garlic. Heat up olive oil in a deep pot, add the garlic and onions and cook for a few minutes until the onions are translucent.
Add the tomatoes, a bit of pepper, dried basil, thyme, paprika powder and oregano and cook for 30 minutes. Add the fresh basil and cook for another 30 minutes. Add the tomato paste if the sauce is not thick enough or for more flavour. Add as much as you need, it all depends on the type of tomatoes you are using so might only need half the listed amount of tomato paste. Mix the tomatoes into a smooth sauce.
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2.
Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan while the tomatoes are cooking
Chop the butternut squash into chunks, put them on a baking tray with some olive oil and pepper. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until soft. Let them cool down before removing the skin so you don't burn your hands.
Once the peel is removed, add the squash along with cream into a food processor and blend. Season with nutmeg and sage and set aside.
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3.
As your tomato sauce is now nearly ready, it's time to prepare the spinach.
Heat up a frying pan, remove any large stalks you find and add the spinach to the frying pan. Cook until wilted. Let them cool down completely, then squeeze the spinach to get rid of as much water as possible - water is a lasagna's worst enemy!
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4.
Get your lasagna dish ready
Spread a few tablespoons of tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish. Put your lasagna sheets on top (don't overlap them). Now it's time for our 7 layers of filling! Spread a layer of butternut squash on top of the lasagna, add a small bit of fresh basil, then grated mozzarella (1/4th), tomato sauce, spinach (try to tear them apart) and again a bit of grated mozzarella (1/4). Now repeat: lasagna sheets - butternut squash - fresh basil - grated mozzarella - tomato sauce - spinach - grated mozzarella. Finish by tearing up the mozzarella and spreading it out across the top.
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