Greg's Meaty Butternut Squash Lasagna

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I forget where I found this recipe, but I'm sure it's just a modified version of something online or in a cookbook or something. Not entirely my original work, that's for sure.

Ingredients

- some butternut squash - one if it's big and has a nice big long neck, two or three if they're smaller
- some sort of cooking oil spray, we use olive oil PAM
- a couple pounds of ground meat / meat substitute - we use chicken basil sausage meat, sometimes mixed with some 'meatless ground meat' from Trader Joe's
- maybe a jar and a half of a tasty spaghetti sauce - we use Monte Bene's garlic marinara sauce
- a bag of pre-sliced mushrooms (we use crimini) or the equivalent
- a small salad bag's worth of baby spinach
- a container (4 oz.?) of fresh basil
- a ball of fresh mozzarella shredded into little bits - use at least 4 oz. but the sky's the limit
- a container of fat-free ricotta cheese (maybe 12 to 16 oz.?)
- some grated Parmesan cheese (could be a sprinkling, could be a ton - your call)

1. Preparing the Squash

Since this recipe is a bit of a pain, I generally do this step the day before. Peel the squash, and then cut the neck of the squash into very fine slices - maybe six to eight an inch. You can stop when you reach the bulb and the center of the slices gets hollow.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cover a sheet pan or two with heavy duty aluminum foil (or not, I use the foil so I don't have to wash the pan) and then spray very lightly with the cooking spray.

Lay the squash slices on the sheet pan and bake them until the squash is tender but still holds its shape, about 10-12 minutes. Repeat until all the squash is roasted.

You don't want the squash too too limp, just pliable, so adjust your time accordingly. You'll probably have to do multiple batches anyway.

2. Browning the Meat

Mix up your ground meats, if you're using more than one type.

Bring a large, wide pan to medium-high heat, spray it with your cooking spray, and add in the ground meat.

Lightly brown the meats for just a few minutes. You do not want it to get all the way cooked through at this point.

Once the meats are lightly brown, remove them from the pan and set them aside in a bowl.

3. Layering the Lasagna

De-stem and finely chop the fresh basil.

Mix the ricotta with the chopped basil and then set this aside for a bit.

Take your lasagna pan (I use a deep, disposable aluminum dish, 9-by-13 inches) and coat the bottom of lightly with the tomato sauce.

Arrange an even layer of the roasted squash on top of the sauce. Be sure the squash completely covers the surface of the baking dish. This acts as the “pasta." If I'm not feeling lazy, I trim the squash slices so they're approximately square - they fit together better that way. If I'm lazy, I just overlap the rounds.

Cover the squash layer generously with more tomato sauce as well as some of the ground meat mixture.

Spoon small (a tablespoon?) scoops of the ricotta mixture over the ragu, or use some other method to get a bit of ricotta spread about. Use about half of it.

Arrange an even layer of spinach and mushrooms over the ricotta - again, about half of each.

Sprinkle with half the grated mozzarella and parmesan.

Lay another layer of squash over the parmesan and do some more layering - sauce, the rest of the ricotta, the rest of the spinach, and the rest of the mushrooms. Then end with a top layer of squash, some more sauce, the rest of the mozzerella, and the rest of the parmesan.

4. Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, maybe tented a bit so the top mozzerella doesn't stick to the foil. Place on a sheet tray if you like, and bake for about 45 minutes.

Remove the top foil and bake for 10 to 15 more minutes to crisp up the top.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 15-20 minutes before serving.

The lasagna may be liquid-y when you cut into it - that's pretty normal. You'll want to use a pretty sharp knife to cut the squash bits cleanly. 

And that's it! Sort of a pain in the butt to make, but the end result is pretty tasty for not having any actual pasta in it.