Chorizo, butternut squash, and rapini lasagna

Has your traditional lasagna recipe worn out its welcome? Embrace the extraordinary with this butternut squash, chorizo and rapini lasagna version!

Portions

6-8

Preparation

40 minutes

Cooking

20 minutes + 55 minutes

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INGREDIENTS

Lasagna
1 package (150 g – 20 slices) Fantino & Mondello sliced chorizo
1 box oven-ready lasagna noodles
4 cups (1 L) home-made or store-bought tomato sauce (no meat)
3 cups (750 ml) grated mozzarella
1 cup (250 ml) grated parmesan
1 ball fresh or bufarella mozzarella, shredded into pieces
16-20 sprigs thyme, 2/3 as shredded leaves and the rest of the sprigs as garnish

Squash
1 small butternut squash (or other squash of your choice)
1 tbsp (15 ml) sunflower oil
½ tsp (2.5 ml) salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Ricotta rapini
1 tbsp (15 ml) sunflower oil
2 bunches rapini*, washed and roughly chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp (10 ml) honey
1 tub (475 g) ricotta
2 tbsp (30 ml) dried oregano
½ tsp (2.5 ml) salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Squash

  1. Preheat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F).
  2. Cut off the top end section of the butternut squash and remove the skin. Use a mandolin to cut it into slices (around 20) that are around 4.5 mm (3/16 in) thick. (Cut the other part of the squash in half, remove the seeds, dice it, and freeze it for use in soups or other recipes.)
  3. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spread out the squash slices. Brush with oil, add salt and pepper, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Set aside.

Ricotta rapini
Pour the oil into a pre-heated pan over medium heat and toss the rapini for around 3 minutes. Add the shallots, garlic, and honey. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. In a bowl, combine the rapini, ricotta, oregano, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

Assembly and cooking

  1. Preheat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F).
  2. In a deep cast iron skillet, (11-12 inches wide) or an oven-safe rectangular casserole dish measuring 33 x 23 cm (13 x 9 in), spread out and uniformly arrange the ingredients in the following order:

Thin layer of tomato sauce

Layer 1
One-third of the lasagna noodles
Half of the tomato sauce
Half of the squash slices
Half of the chorizo slices
Half of the grated mozzarella and parmesan
The thyme leaves

Layer 2
One-third of the lasagna noodles
The ricotta-rapini mixture

Layer 3
The remaining lasagna noodles
The remaining tomato sauce
The remaining squash slices
The remaining chorizo slices
The remaining grated mozzarella and parmesan, topped with the fresh shredded mozzarella pieces
The thyme sprigs
Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue cooking for 10 minutes, until golden.

Let rest for 15 minutes and enjoy

TIPS

*If you don’t have any rapini but would like to preserve its bitter flavour, substitute Swiss chard or arugula. For less bitterness, use spinach.

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