Happy Almost St. Patrick’s Day! We are headed up north for spring skiing, and have a corned beef and cabbage boiled dinner to eat up there, but I wanted to at least give you an Orange, Green and White meal for the weekend. Butternut Squash and Kale Lasagna!
I first tried this recipe from Cooking Light. The recipe below is SEVERELY edited from their version which is much healthier I am sure. (You can find their recipe here if you are interested.) I was making it and I was like, what? 6 pieces of lasagna? How does it even stay together? Dry veggies? With no fats or salt? What? Soooo, as you can imagine, I had to tweak this. This is the comfort food version. Complete with Mario Batali’s Béchamel sauce. It is worth this extra step, but if you are in a pinch for time Alfredo sauce works (I almost can’t believe I am saying that, but if it gets dinner on the table faster, ok).
½ c. water
3 cups chopped kale
2 T. olive oil
2 T. minced garlic
3 cups Béchamel Sauce (recipe below)
6 oz. Gruyere cheese
4 oz. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
S & P
Cooking Spray
12 Lasagna Noodles (No-Boil or already prepared al dente according to package)
3 tablespoons chopped pecans or walnuts (Warning: My kids disliked these, I loved them, so skip them or only put on half if serving to munchkins.)
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Directions for Béchamel:
In a medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted. Add the flour and stir until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Season with salt and nutmeg, and set aside until ready to use. Yields 3 cups.Directions for Lasagna:
Pre-heat oven to 450:
Place butternut squash in microwave safe dish. Add water, cover with plastic wrap tightly, then pierce 2 or 3 times to let steam escape. Microwave for 5 min. or until tender. Drain.While squash is microwaving, heat up oil on medium high heat in large pan. Add garlic and cook for 1 min. until fragrant. Add kale, seasoning with ½ t. salt and dash of pepper and saute for 3-4 min. Add butternut squash and stir to combine, set aside.
Make bechamel sauce. While still hot, add half or Gruyere and all of the Parmesan cheese to sauce, stir until melted. Reserving other half for top of lasagna.
Coat Baking dish with cooking spray, then spread 2/3 c. bechamel sauce on bottom. Lay 3 noodles on top, then top with ⅓ of squash and kale mixture, then 2/3 c. bechamel sauce. Repeat two more times, ending with noodles and remaining sauce on top. Cover with foil; bake at 450 for 15 min. Remove foil, sprinkle remaining Gruyere on top with nuts. Bake uncovered at 450 for 10 min. or until lightly browned and sauce is bubbly. Let stand 5 min. before serving.
Wishing you the happiest of St. Patrick’s Days!!! xoxo Katie