PUMPKIN AND SWISS CHARD LASAGNA
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Pasta, Italian, Vegetarian, Comfort Foods
Serves: 6 people
Ingredients
  • 1 kg pumpkin or butternut squash
  • fresh sage leaves
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • ¼ tsp finely grated nutmeg
  • salt, pepper
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • .
  • 2 bunches of swiss chard
  • 1 medium onion
  • salt, pepper
  • 2-3 Tbs olive oil
  • .
  • BESCAMEL SAUCE
  • 1 lt milk
  • 75 gr flour (1 cup+1 Tbs)
  • 75gr butter (about 5 Tbs)
  • ¼ tsp finely grated nutmeg
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt, pepper
  • .
  • 200 gr grated mozzarella (almost 2 cups)
  • 100-150 gr grated parmesan (1-1⅕ cups)
  • 5-6 tsp butter
  • .
  • lasagna sheets
Instructions
  1. Chop the pumpkin into chunky pieces and place on an oven tray lined with baking paper.
  2. Spread around the fresh sage leaves and garlic cloves, sprinkle with nutmeg, a little salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and mix, cook in a preheated oven (200 C/ 390 F) for 40 to 45 minutes.
  3. To prepare the swiss chard; heat the oil in a fry pan and add in the finely diced onion.
  4. Throw in the sliced stalks of the swiss chard and cook for a few mins. Add in the roughly chopped leaves and cook for 5-10 mins on low. You can add a couple of Tbs of water if it seems to get too dry. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. FOR THE BESCAMEL SAUCE first start with a roux. Place butter in a sauce pan and heat. When melted add in the flour and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly until the mixture gets a light golden colour.
  6. Pour in the milk while whisking and throw in the bay leaf if using. Cook on a medium heat for about 10 mins, stirring constantly.
  7. Take off the heat as bubbles start to appear. Season with salt, pepper and finely grated nutmeg.
  8. Let cool giving it a whisk every so often to avoid a skin forming on the surface.
  9. Once you have all the components ready, you can start making the lasagna.
  10. First we need to precook the lasagna sheets in salted boiling water for 1 minute. Do not crowd the pot, drop in 4-5 sheets at a time so they don't stick to each other. After boiling for 1 min. transfer into a bowl filled with cold water in order to stop them from cooking further. Once cold place in a colander to drain off access water.
  11. Spread a ladleful of béchamel sauce over the bottom of a 10x12 inch oven dish and arrange the first layer of lasagna sheets.
  12. Start layering first with more béchamel then ⅓ of the pumpkin and ⅓ of the swiss chard. Sprinkle a handful of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Repeat two more times. (Make sure you leave some béchamel for the top)
  13. Top with the forth layer of lasagna sheets and spread over the remaining béchamel. Top with mozzarella and parmesan and dot with 5-6 tsp of butter.
  14. Bake at 180 C (375 F) for 40-45 minutes until slightly browned.
  15. Remove from the oven and rest for 20 mins before serving.
Notes
It can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can even freeze the leftovers or up to 2 months.

Some packaged dry lasagna sheets don't require to be pre cooked and that's fine if you are making a classic lasagna as the sauce will cook the pasta. But in our case the filling we are using is pretty dry so do precook your lasagna sheets even if the packaging says you don't need to : )
Recipe by HatiBon English at https://www.hatibon.com/blog/2018/02/pumpkin-swiss-chard-lasagna/