Side Pannel
Pumpkin Sauce Lasagna
Pumpkin Sauce Lasagna
- Recipe Submitted by maryjosh on 12/11/2017
Ingredients List
- For the Pumpkin Sauce:
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 8 cloves garlic, grated or finely minced
- 2 cans pumpkin puree (about 4 cups)
- 2 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice (optional)
- For the Lasagna:
- 1 pound whole wheat lasagna noodles (12 noodles)
- ½ pound ground meat
- ½ teaspoon dried sage
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups thawed or cooked spinach
- 12-16 ounces ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced or shredded
Directions
Make the Pumpkin Sauce: Warm the oil over medium heat and sauté the garlic until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute. Add the pumpkin puree, milk, salt, oregano, and basil and cook over low heat for a few minutes to marry the flavors, but do not let the milk simmer. Taste and add vinegar or lemon juice at the end to brighten the flavor. Set aside.
For the Lasagna:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and (optional--add lots of salt to the water for more flavorful noodles) boil the lasagna noodles according to package instructions. Drain and lay flat while you prepare the beef and sauce. (If they're curled as they cool, they will be difficult to flatten and layer, but not impossible.)
Brown the beef in a large pan with the sage, oregano, basil and salt. Combine with the spinach and ricotta cheese.
Assemble the Lasagna:
Spread a little pumpkin sauce on the bottom of a 9x13-inch glass casserole dish or cake pan.
Add lasagna noodles to fill your dish. (I did 4 layers of 3 noodles each layer. You can cut the noodles to suit your pan/dish size.)
Add ⅓ of the spinach-ricotta-meat mixture.
Top with more pumpkin sauce.
Add another layer of lasagna noodles
ricotta mixture
and pumpkin sauce. In this middle layer, if you have enough mozzarella, I would add about ⅓ of the mozzarella to bring some gooey cheesiness to the center of the lasagna. Continue layering until you run out of ingredients and/or space.
Cover and bake on 425ºF for 30 minutes. Remove cover/foil and bake 5 more minutes to brown the top of the cheese. Let cool at least 10 minutes and serve!
Optional: Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese or fresh oregano.
For the Lasagna:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and (optional--add lots of salt to the water for more flavorful noodles) boil the lasagna noodles according to package instructions. Drain and lay flat while you prepare the beef and sauce. (If they're curled as they cool, they will be difficult to flatten and layer, but not impossible.)
Brown the beef in a large pan with the sage, oregano, basil and salt. Combine with the spinach and ricotta cheese.
Assemble the Lasagna:
Spread a little pumpkin sauce on the bottom of a 9x13-inch glass casserole dish or cake pan.
Add lasagna noodles to fill your dish. (I did 4 layers of 3 noodles each layer. You can cut the noodles to suit your pan/dish size.)
Add ⅓ of the spinach-ricotta-meat mixture.
Top with more pumpkin sauce.
Add another layer of lasagna noodles
ricotta mixture
and pumpkin sauce. In this middle layer, if you have enough mozzarella, I would add about ⅓ of the mozzarella to bring some gooey cheesiness to the center of the lasagna. Continue layering until you run out of ingredients and/or space.
Cover and bake on 425ºF for 30 minutes. Remove cover/foil and bake 5 more minutes to brown the top of the cheese. Let cool at least 10 minutes and serve!
Optional: Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese or fresh oregano.
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