In the Kitchen with Wil

In the Kitchen with Wil – October Edition

As part of our blog makeover, we will post a recipe each month that Wil often makes for our clients.  After scrounging around in the kitchen for leftovers a couple of weeks ago when no one was looking, I decided to post Wil’s Butternut Squash Lasagna recipe this month.  

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Lasagna
1 box lasagna noodles
1.5 T butter
1t kosher salt
1 yellow onion chopped
1.5 cloves garlic chopped
6 cups butternut squash cubed (about 2)
2T sage chopped
¼ cup toasted pine nuts (3-4 minutes in a 425 degree oven)
½ cup of grated parmesan
½ cup of shredded mozzarella
Salt & Pepper to taste
Béchamel sauce (recipe below)

Béchamel sauce
3 T butter
4 T flour
1 Qt of milk
Salt & pepper to taste

This is Wil.

He’s our Chef.  We call him Chef Wil.  We could call him Iron Wil but I believe there is an old older Disney movie called Iron will.  Stop laughing; it had a cute boy in it!

Let’s get started shall we?!

For Béchamel sauce
Melt 3 T of butter over medium heat.  

Add 4T of flour and whisk continually for 1 minute.  

Do not let the mixture brown.  Add milk and whisk until the mixture is thick and the consistency of gravy.  

You have to whisk a long time.

When thickened, add 1.5 t of kosher salt and sprinkle with pepper (a dash as they would say).

Look how nice and steamy we are!

Cover with a layer of wax paper to prevent a skin from forming.

Set aside and massage your tired shoulder after all that whisking.

Start the lasagna

Melt  1.5T of butter in a deep skillet over medium heat.  

Season with 1t of kosher salt and a sprinkle of pepper.  Add chopped onion and cook about 2-3 minutes or until onions begin to yellow and soften.  

Add garlic “to get it aromatic” – Wil.  

Stir cubed squash & sage, reduce heat to medium – low and cover with lid.  Cook about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  

If the mixture begins to get dry, add a “dash” of chicken or vegetable broth.  Cook until squash is tender and can be easily poked with a toothpick or fork.  

Remove from heat and “mash” squash mixture with the back of a spoon until it is the consistency of lumpy mashed potatoes.  

Add more salt and pepper to taste.  Wil used white pepper but you don’t have to get that fancy.  Mix in your pine nuts.

Cook lasagna noodles if you bought the kind that requires cooking.  Wil made his noodles from scratch.  He’s an over-achiever like that.  

Assemble your lasagna!

Wil started this process without me so there is an absence of action shots here.  Sorry.

Spread a thin layer of Béchamel sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan (about ½ cup).  Spread a layer of noodles followed by a third of the squash mixture.  

Follow with another thin layer of Béchamel sauce and a dusting of parmesan.  

Rinse & Repeat 2 more times until squash mixture is all used up.   End with a layer of pasta, a thin layer of Béchamel sauce.  

Top off with your mozzarella.  Wil used fancy pearl mozzarella here.  Feel free to use cheaper shredded mozzarella, that’s what I do at home.

Bake  for 20-30 minutes at 425 degrees.  You want the cheese to be brown on top and the lasagna to be good and bubbly.  To be sure your lasagna is ready to eat stick a metal fork in the middle and see if it comes out hot.  

Let it rest for 15 minutes (not you, the lasagna).  When things bake their juices all come out, we want those juices to soak back up and redistribute evenly throughout the lasagna.  Otherwise your lasagna will be all runny.  And no one wants a runny lasagna.  

Enjoy!  I had a piece of this the following day for lunch as it looked much better than my Smucker’s PB&J.  I can attest to the fact that this lasagna is quite tasty.  There you have it!  Check back next month for another Creek-used recipe!  Oh, and hit the comments and let us know what you thought!