Pumpkin Lasagna with Cherry Tomatoes and Sage
Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Recipes Cheese Pasta
When I first made this lasagna I was convinced it would be a disaster. After I built the layers and poured the water it looked completely unappetizing and unconvincing. Even when I made it the second time, I couldn't help but have this feeling. But since it was already in the pan, I said I don't have much more to lose, let's see what comes out. It came out a dream lasagna, just as good as the meat one, just as beautiful, but much faster. Ixta Belfrage is the author of this recipe where I didn't need to change/adapt almost anything. The ingredients and quantities are from the original recipe (I only multiplied the recipe by 50% because it's THAT good and I wanted 8 large servings instead of 6). The only thing modified is mixing the sage into the parmesan, a technique I've been using for a long time, so that the sage aroma is felt everywhere, pleasantly. In the recipe it was indicated to chop the sage and mix it with the pumpkin, but I felt that the areas where the sage pieces were came out too aromatic and in the rest it wasn't felt at all. You can try both variants and decide which you like. Additionally, I broke the top sheets so they would settle better in the pan and bake evenly. It came out "ruffled" and I liked the effect.
This lasagna will be on repeat all pumpkin season.
Ingredients
500g lasagna sheets
600 ml water (or chicken broth)
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 sage leaves
Filling
800g pie pumpkin (weighed after cleaning)
600g cherry tomatoes
6 garlic cloves
50g tomato paste (1 heaping tablespoon)
6 tablespoons olive oil
4 teaspoons salt (I used Himalayan pink salt which is not as salty)
Cheese Sauce
300g cooking cream (20%)
120g parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano)
7 sage leaves (approx. 5g)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
25 grinds black pepper
Servings: 8
How to prepare pumpkin lasagna with cherry tomatoes and sage
- Peel and deseed the pumpkin and cut it into thin slices (like potatoes for chips; I used a mandoline slicer). Put them in a large bowl.
- Add the tomatoes cut in 2 or 4 (depending on size), tomato paste, crushed garlic cloves, olive oil and salt. Mix with your hand until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Put the parmesan in a food processor together with the sage and blend at high speed until finely ground (it should look like it was grated). If you don't have a powerful food processor that can grind parmesan, you can grate it first and then blend it in the processor together with the sage.
- Add the cream, black pepper and nutmeg and blend until smooth. Set aside 100g of sauce separately.
- Use a baking pan of approximately 40 x 25 cm, with straight sides. Place a layer of lasagna sheets (dry, they don't need to be pre-boiled). If they don't fit perfectly in the pan, break pieces of sheets and fill the gaps, the important thing is to cover the bottom of the pan.
- Put 1/3 of the pumpkin in an even layer over the sheets. Distribute the tomatoes over the entire surface. Drizzle 1/3 of the cheese sauce over the pumpkin.
- Continue again with a compact layer of lasagna sheets, 1/2 of the remaining pumpkin and then 1/2 of the remaining cheese sauce. Repeat again to build one more layer this way, also pouring the juice from the pumpkin bowl.
You will now have 3 layers of sheets and 3 of pumpkin with sauce. - The last layer will be sheets. Place them to cover the surface and then press them with your hand so the layers settle well in the pan. The top sheets will break when you press them, but that's ok, they will cook easier. You can even help them a bit by intentionally breaking them into large pieces.
* you don't need to use all the lasagna sheets, only as many as needed to make the layers; from 500g I had 2 sheets left; 6 fit per layer - Pour the water over the sheets (over, not on the edge of the pan, we want the top sheets to get wet too because the water won't cover all the pan contents). Press again with your hand to make sure the layers compact.
- Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil, so no steam escapes.
- Bake at 240C for 50 minutes.
* check that the top lasagna sheets are cooked; if not, put a few tablespoons of water over the entire surface of the lasagna, put the foil back and bake for another 10 minutes. - Remove the pan, pour the reserved cheese sauce (the 100g) and level it with the back of a spoon. Bake the lasagna for another 5-10 minutes, until golden on top.
- Fry the remaining sage leaves, broken into pieces, in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When you take the lasagna out of the oven, drizzle it with the aromatic oil and garnish with sage leaves. Let it cool for 30-60 minutes before serving, it will cut more nicely. It's good the next day too, reheated (it will slice even better; at 180C for 10 minutes or in the microwave).
Lasagna in the baking dish
