Butternut Squash Lasagna

Based on how my body responds, or rather, doesn't respond, to carbs, I've determined that I'm carb sensitive.  I seem to really only be able to make progress on losing weight when I cut out carbs from my diet.  Cutting out sugar hasn't been hard, remarkably, but cutting out breads, pasta, rice and other grains has been. 

We were hosting an old friend and colleague who was visiting from India.  It's hard to believe we had known Shuba as long as we had and how long it'd been since we last saw her.  Shuba is vegetarian and has some other dietary restrictions, which coupled with my recent low-carb diet, posed some challenges for our dinner party.  We originally had planned for 5 and possibly kids, so I was struggling with so many requirements that needed to be met.  Finally I came up with a menu that worked for all and after finding out there were only be 4 adults and no kids, things did get easier.  But at that point I had already come up with my menu and didn't feel like changing. 

Shuba Dinner Party

Cheese Plate complete with figs, cheese, spreads, and crackers

Carrot Ginger Soup w/ creme freche and cilantro garnish

Butternut Squash Lasagna 

Kale Cesar Salad w/ apples and walnuts

Vegan Pecan Pie

Butternut Squash Lasagna

I used this recipe as a start and also consulted the Long sisters and in-laws.  I've made lasagna before so was pretty much winging it based on what I remember.  Layering is the same, have a ricotta/cheese filling (I found out egg was okay in the filling, even though to be honest I may have not worried about it) and layer with sauce, noodle, ricotta, cheese, repeat until you get to the top.   I used spinach in the ricotta cheese mixture and alternated the butternut squash with zucchini.

Dealing with the squash is the hardest part.  It's a big vegetable and is hard when raw.  So I used an old tip from Virginia Watkins, to roast the squash first, then it's much easier to work with.  

Next hardest, or should I say time consuming is drawing the liquid out of the zucchini.   You sprinkly Kosher salt onto the sliced zucchini, let it sit either on paper towels or some strainer to let the water drain out of the zucchini.  Then you had to rinse the zuccchini (which was weird to me cause wouldn't that add water back in?  I guess not) to rinse off the salt and then pat dry.  No fun and way too much work.  I prefer shredded zucchini where I can squeeze all the water out using a cheesecloth, but i needed nice flat zucchini for this recipe. 

Butternut squash after roasting (400 degrees for 40 min) and I'm starting to peel with a peeler.

Pretty squash all ready to be sliced up!

Used the mandoline to get a perfect slice (well it wasn't perfect, but good enough)

Saute onion and garlic 

Add the spinach and saute until wilted

main ingredients for the ricotta cheese mixture - also an egg

egg and ricotta cheese

add parm cheese and mozzarella

Add the spinach

used some leftover pasta sauce in fridge along with these crushed tomatoes.  I could've used a bit more sauce, but I"m glad I didn't rush out to store to get more.  Again, good enough! 

let the layering begin!  Sauce

Butternut Squash

Ricotta cheese mixture

Mozzarella cheese 

Sauce, followed by zucchini this time

ricotta mixture, mozzarella cheese, you get the picture.  Last layer is mozzarella cheese

Ta-da!  looked beautiful.  Too bad we didn't eat it right away, I made this ahead and then kept warm in the oven.  It would've been better to eat fresh from oven so cheese was all gooey.