Butternut squash and sage lasagne

Today was my day off, after not having a day off last week and doing lots of hours I could probably be forgiven for having a lazy day but I was feeling inspired and wanted to upload a new recipe to my blog. I have cooked this dish a few times for friends, family, and colleagues and even had it on the menu and apart from one of my mates claiming 'it doesn’t count as a real meal as it has no meat in it' my butternut squash lasagne has always gone down really well. One of the girls from the nook had asked me to write down the recipe for her as well so I thought I would cook it today for lunch for my girlfriend and me.

 

Ingredients:

1 leek sliced thin

1 medium white onion diced

1 medium butternut squash diced

2 garlic cloves chopped fine

Small bunch of sage chopped

Lasagne sheets

Grated cheddar

Salt and pepper

For the Mornay sauce:

35 g salted butter

35 g plain flour

Pint of milk

Grated cheddar

Salt and pepper

Squash is my favourite veg and I love using it for so many things, soups, purees, in risotto, mashed and it really goes well with sage, it is important to use fresh sage in this lasagne, you will really notice the difference.

Once the veg has been prepared, heat a large saucepan on a medium heat and add oil and butter and cook the veg until the onion is translucent and the squash is al dente and season.

Make your Mornay sauce by melting the butter in a pan and adding flour to make a roux, once this is done slowly add the milk a ladle at a time and use a wooden spoon to stir it and make it smooth. Once it starts to thicken up too much add another ladle of milk. Keep on a fairly low heat and don’t leave it. Half way through switch to a whisk then add larger amounts of milk and leave it to thicken up a bit more. Once done it should be a smooth creamy sauce, then just add the cheese until it has all been incorporated in the sauce, finish by seasoning it.

Now it is time to put the lasagne together, find a suitable dish and put half the squash mix at the bottom, top with lasagne sheets then the sauce and repeat action, finally add some more grated cheese over the top and it is ready to go in the oven.

I put mine on a fairly low heat maybe gas mark 4 for about 45 minutes as I do not want the top to burn, cooking times may vary but just stick a knife through it and when the pasta is cooked the lasagne should be ready.

The finished lasagne works perfect with a simple salad and some garlic bread and of course a bit of mayonnaise. You can also do up a bigger batch as it is just as good the next day.