So you may literally never see me post another pasta recipe here. I’m not intrigued by it when it comes to culinary exploration, for whatever reason. My family does clamor for it, and gets it once in a while in my meal planning rotations, but besides craving a good carbonara once in a while (like the kind you can find everywhere in Roma, washed down with a house wine—ah….take me back) I just don’t get inspired by it much (and avoid gluten alot of the time, so just focus elsewhere on getting healthy carbs in to all of us. BUT. That should just tell you how good this recipe is. I was dreaming of it the other day, so I rescued it from languishing in my former food blog forever (that one was called Whoopsyummy, which will make alot of sense when you realize that I value creativity and experimentation highly when cooking and baking–sometimes we get winners, sometimes we don’t 😉 But it’s all part of the process.)
For me, cooking is a major creative outlet…and stress relief. Is it for you?
CRAZY that when I went back to grab this recipe and publish it again today, after we’d made it over the weekend…it happened to fall on the exact same date, 7 years ago. Incredible synchronicity shows up often in life, when we have the eyes to see it.
Martha Stewart’s fall twist on a classic has been part of my repertoire for a few years now, thanks to a friend.
But it was always missing something. Meat. So this version includes a nice hearty Italian sausage, sure to bring your calorie count to close to absurd once you’ve tucked in and had a few slices of this creamy ricotta goodness. But, food bloggers can’t count calories, so onward.
- 3 1/2 pounds butternut squash (a large one), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 pound whole-milk ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/2 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated (2 cups)
- Freshly grated nutmeg (mine wasn’t freshly grated and it did the trick)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup loosely packed fresh sage leaves, chopped
- 1 1/4 cups chicken stock
- Lasagna noodles–one box–you may not need all of them. (Martha suggests spending another 3 hrs making your own noodles–that was not something I was comfortable with–store bought work just fine in a pinch). Cook these first… 😉
- 4 ounces finely grated Parmesan cheese (1 1/4 cups)
- One package Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled
In a 425 degree oven, roast the butternut squash with oil, salt and pepper for 25-30 minutes.
After reducing oven to 375, begin the ricotta filling; combine ricotta, cream, yolks, mozzarella and nutmeg, then sprinkle with salt.
Melt butter in a pan over medium heat; as it sizzles, add sage and cook until golden and crispy at edges, 3-4 minutes.
Place cooked squash in a bowl and mash 1/2 of it with the back of a wooden spoon, leaving the other half in whole pieces. Gently stir in sage butter mixture, stock, and sausage. Season with salt and pepper.
Spread 3/4 cup of ricotta mixture in a 9-cup baking dish. Top with a layer of noodles. Spread 1/2 of the butternut squash mixture over noodles. Top with a layer of noodles. Spread 1 cup of ricotta mixture over noodles. Repeat layering once more (noodles, squash, noodles, ricotta). Sprinkle Parmesan over ricotta mixture.
Cook in a casserole dish (yes, mine was Martha Stewart teal, appropriately) for 30-35 minutes; until cheese is bubbling.
Bon Appetit. This should be enjoyed with a hearty wine.
Posted on November 12, 2011