Pumpkin and Vegetable Lasagna with Sage Beurre Noisette and Toasted Almonds

Pumpkin Lasagna. I wasn’t that much of a pumpkin fan growing up, though I love squash then and now. I thought, meh…pumpkin is just okay. At Thanksgiving, I preferred apple pie or chocolate mud pie over pumpkin pie. What do you guys think about pumpkin pie? Love it, hate it, or just okay?

The closest thing to pumpkin that I really enjoyed was kalabasa/kabocha squash in a Filipino vegetable stew called pakbet. As an adult, I guess my taste for pumpkin changed when I realized that the taste is similar to other squash and I had tried really good pumpkin soup. After that I started to like pumpkin more and more. I am a fan of baked goods on occasion and then I saw different pumpkin baked goods popping up such as pumpkin whoopie pies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin cheesecake, so I become intrigued about pumpkin. Haha, even pumpkin lattes got me interested in pumpkins. Last year, I saved some pumpkin seeds and gave them to my Dad to plant, so I got some good organic pumpkins this fall.

With a lovely sage and almond beurre noisette (browned butter) sauce, veggies, cheese and of course pumpkin, this lasagna is not for the pumpkin-shy. I’m certainly no longer pumpkin-shy 🙂

How about you?

The veggies:   onion, garlic, shallot, leeks, chopped rainbow chard stems

The veggies continued:  chopped chard leaves and mushrooms

The sautéed veggies ready to be layered.

The ricotta filling and the pumpkin, mixed and waiting to become layers too. No, the left burner is not on while the bowl is on top of it. haha Once, I messed up a tupperware lid when I forgot the burner was on. Lesson learned.

The lasagna, topped with raw-milk cheddar, before going in the oven.

Right out of the oven, I topped the lasagna with the brown butter sauce, sage leaves and toasted slivered almonds. The raw-milk cheddar melted really well. It has a sort of nutty taste too. Mmmm….beautiful aromas came from the kitchen!

Had a 15-20 minute cool-down, then it was sliced. Dinner is ready!

Pumpkin and Vegetable Lasagna with Sage Beurre Noisette and Almonds

Serves 4-6  portions

Ingredients

• 15 oz. (1 3/4 cup-2 cups) pureed pumpkin, both homemade (better taste) or canned (…if you don’t mind the taste of canned) works well (you can also use different types of squash like butternut, kabocha, etc.)
• Butter or cooking oil, my favorites are safflower and grape seed
• dash ground cinnamon
• Kosher salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 cups diced onion
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1-2 cups chopped swiss chard (I like my lasagna veggie heavy so I used about 2 cups) – leaves and stems separated, finely chop the stems
• dash ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced (1-2 teaspoons dried sage works fine too)
• 1/2 cup leeks, cut into strips
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped mushrooms (I used Trader Joe’s dried mushroom medley, reconsituted)
• 425 grams tub of ricotta cheese
• 8 ounces Greek yogurt
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 10 lasagna cooked noodle sheets, homemade, store bought, or gluten-free(I used the no-boil variety, but needs some stock for moisture)
• 3/4 cup stock – low sodium vegetable or chicken
• 1/2-1 cup grated Raw Milk Cheddar (mozzarella would be great too)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, chopped hazelnuts would be lovely, though I only had almonds in my pantry
• 1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, 10-12 leaves – left whole

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease and/or line with baking paper an 8″x8″ pan. I love this foil/parchment combo from Reynolds.
2. Pumpkin layer: In a mixing bowl, season pumpkin puree with salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Whisk in a dash of stock to thin the pumpkin mixture a little bit.
3. Veggies: Heat a dash of oil or tablespoon butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. When pan is hot, add onion, shallot, and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until softened. Add the chopped swiss chard stems and cook until the stems are softened. Then add leeks, chopped mushrooms and thinly sliced sage leaves. If you are feeling adventurous, add a dash of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. Cook for about a minute until leeks are softened a bit, then mix in the swiss chard leaves. Set aside to cool a bit while you are working on the other fillings.
4. Ricotta mix: In another mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, Greek yogurt, beaten egg, salt and pepper to taste, and dash of nutmeg. Mix well.
5. For the beurre noisette sauce, on medium heat, heat the butter in a saucepan. When the butter begins to turn brown, add the whole sage leaves and stir-fry until they starting to turn brown and slightly crisp, 1 to 1.5 minutes. Add the slivered almonds or hazelnuts and stir-fry for about one more minute until starting to brown and smell toasty. Make sure to watch this step carefully as it can get burnt really fast. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
6. Lasagna assembly: In your lined pan, put a few tablespoons of stock and place 2 lasagna noodles on top. If you are using cooked lasagna noodles, you can skip the additions of stock.
   • Spread 1/3 of the pumpkin on top of the noodles. Then place another 2 lasagna sheets on top.
   • After that, spread, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, then add 1/2 of the veggie mixture. If you want your lasagna extra cheesy, you could add some grated cheese (a melty one like mozzarella would be good) on top of the veggie mix.
   • Put a couple of more tablespoons of stock, then place 2 more lasagna sheets on top. Again, put a couple more tablespoons of stock to get the noodles to absorb it, then spread 1/2 the remaining pumpkin.
   • Layer on 2 more lasagna noodles (the 7th and 8th noodles so far). Spread 1/2 of the remaining ricotta mix and then layer on top the remaining veggies. Add some grated cheese if you are feeling cheesy. Put a bit more stock too. Don’t worry if you don’t use up all of the stock. You want just enough to get moisture into the noodles.
   • Then put the 2 remaining lasagna noodles, some stock, spread the remaining pumpkin layer, then the remaining ricotta. Top with the grated raw milk cheddar cheese.
7. Grease a piece of foil or baking paper and cover the pan tightly. This will keep moisture in so that the noodles cook while in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove the covering and continue to bake until the cheese is melted and golden brown, about 15 minutes more. For the final layer of flavor, add the sage browned butter sauce and slivered almonds on top. If you want, you can arrange the leaves and almonds for a pretty presentation. Let the lasagna cool for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

You could see the browned butter clearly here. You could add less if you want, but I like to have butter in moderation. 🙂

This would taste great with mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, turkey and cranberry sauce. Why not have pumpkin lasagna at your Thanksgiving meal? Or just for fun!?!

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