I find food trends so fascinating, and exhausting – there are endless recipes promising to help us eat a little better. Now of course, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to eat well, but sometimes I think we spend so much time thinking about what food should do for us that we forget how lovely it is just to eat something because it tastes good.
This squash, sausage & sage (kinda) lasagne is very much in that spirit. There’s no layering of neat sheets of pasta or making a proper béchamel. Instead, roasted butternut squash, little jewels of sausage meat, fresh lasagne sheets and a rather excessive amount of cheesy cream all go into one dish. It’s a little unruly, but that’s part of the appeal.
The squash caramelises in the oven, bringing a little sweetness to the rich sauce, while the sausage adds savoury depth. I brown the butter before adding the garlic, which gives the whole thing a lovely nutty flavour.
My favourite part is the top, where the pasta turns golden and crisp while everything underneath stays soft and creamy. Serve it with a sharp, green salad if you like, but mostly just give yourself permission to enjoy it. We can think about our iron and protein another day.
SQUASH, SAUSAGE & SAGE (KINDA) LASAGNE
Eat the lasagne! You deserve it.
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash peeled & chopped into 1cm slices
- olive oil
- 9 sausages (I use vegetarian sausages)
- 90 g unsalted butter
- 9 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 600 ml double cream
- 300 ml milk
- a good grating of nutmeg
- 100 g gruyere cheese grated
- 50 g cheddar cheese grated
- 225 g fresh lasagne sheets sliced into quarters
- large handful sage leaves
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 180°c (fan-assisted).
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Combine the squash, a really good glug of olive oil, a nice pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper on a baking tray. Use your hands to give everything a mix, then shimmy the squash into one even layer and roast for 35-45 minutes, mixing halfway through, or until the squash is soft in the middle and caramelised on the edges.
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Meanwhile, heat a good glug of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Use a sharp knife to slice down the side of each sausage and peel off its casing. Use your fingers to pull off small sections of the sausage meat and drop them in the oil, creating little uneven meatballs. Fry the sausage meat for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until glistening and golden and cooked all the way through. Use a slotted spoon to remove the sausage meat from the oil and into a bowl lined with kitchen towel, to soak up any excess grease, leaving all the fat behind in the pan.
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Next, melt the butter in the same frying pan over a low-medium heat. Let it bubble and crackle, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter is covered with a layer of foam and the underneath has turned a golden brown. This will take 3–4 minutes. At this point, add the garlic and continue to cook for a further 2–3 minutes, still swirling occasionally, until the garlic is soft. You don’t want the butter to get too dark, so just keep an eye on it. Also, it might spit, so be careful.
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Add the double cream, milk, a good grating of nutmeg and a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Then sprinkle in the gruyere and cheddar, saving a little handful of each for the top. Stir until the cheese has melted, not letting the pan come to a boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed; grating in extra nutmeg, if you think it needs it.
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Increase the oven temperature to 200°c (fan-assisted).
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Layer the squash, crispy sausage, lasagne sheets, sage leaves and cheesy sauce in a baking dish or shallow casserole pan. Sprinkle over any cheese you kept aside, then bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the pasta has cooked through and the top is golden and crisp (the pasta on the top of the lasagne will be crunchy, but the underneath should be soft and luscious – it's a gorgeous contrast). Serve with a zesty green salad on the side, if you like.
A few other very tasty lasagne recipes here for you!
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