Pumpkin Lasagne

Did you know that 18,000 tonnes of pumpkin is wasted in the UK every year from pumpkin carving?! That’s a lot of delicious soups, lasagnes, and roast pumpkin salads in the bin. One of my first food memories is having pumpkin soup round one of my friend’s houses when I was at pre-school, and so I have a bit of a nostalgic fondness for pumpkin and it’s definitely not a veg to throw away. It’s a bit of a bitch to cut up and prepare as they’re so flipping massive when they’re whole, but roasting them before scooping out the filling can make it bearable! On the other hand, if you’re carving out the filling for lanterns anyway problem solved. These are a great vegetarian variation of the classic lasagne and is so much easier to make than the classic as the cheese sauce is just a ricotta mixture. So don’t throw your pumpkin away this year, use it!

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 1 hour, plus roasting time for the pumpkin

Ingredients

• 1kg Pumpkin pieces (about 1 medium sized pumpkin)
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• ¼ tsp Ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp Dried sage leaves
• 350g Ricotta
• 1 Egg
• 100g Cheddar cheese, grated, plus extra for topping
• 8 Lasagne sheets
• 80g Butter
• 2 tbsp Chopped walnuts
• 12 Fresh sage leaves

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
2. Cut the pumpkin into quarters and then place it on a baking tray. Drizzle with the oil and the salt and pepper. Cover with foil and then roast for 20-25 minutes until tender.
3. Put the pumpkin into a food processor and puree. Add the sage, nutmeg, and a lot of seasoning, and pulse until the mixture is smooth. Spoon the  mixture into a bowl and set aside for later.
4. Now make the cheesy layer. Wash out your food processor and put the ricotta, egg and cheddar cheese into a food processor with some seasoning. Whizz together until smooth.
5. Cover the base of a 24cm oven-proof dish with a layer of lasagne sheets. Spread over half the pumpkin mix. Then top with another layer of lasagne sheets. Spread over half the ricotta mix and then repeat the same layers again. Sprinkle the top layer with some more cheddar and then bake for 20-30 minutes until golden and the edges are starting to crisp.
6. Heat the butter, walnuts and sage leaves in a pan and heat until the butter starts to bubble.
7. Remove the pan from the heat, spoon the walnuts and sage over the lasagne and then serve with a side salad!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x