Oven Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna with Spinach and Chicken
Layers of pasta smothered in a silky oven roasted butternut squash sauce and loaded with generous chunks of chicken, feta cheese and spinach, topped with melted mozzarella cheese. Who could say no to that?
Cut the butternut squash in half and scoop out the guts and seeds with a spoon; place them in a broiler pan and drizzle them with a generous amount of extra-virgin olive oil, then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
Turn the squash flesh side down and pour about 1/4 cup of water in the bottom of the pan.
Bake in the oven, uncovered, for about 40-45 minutes, until the squash becomes really soft and can easily be pierced with the tip of a sharp knife. (see this post for step-by-step instructions with pictures)
When the squash is fully cooked, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for a few minutes until you can safely handle it.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the lasagna noodles until they are just soft and pliable, about half way cooked; Carefully drain or fish the noodles out with kitdhen tongs and arrange them side by side on a clean dish towel to absorb excess water. Your noodles can wait there for a little while, you don’t need to time this perfectly.
While the pasta is cooking, place the spinach in a large stock pot set over medium heat. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the spinach is completely wilted, about 3 minutes. Let the spinach cool until you can safely handle it with your bare hands, then squeeze it in small batches between the palms of your hands to remove as much excess water as you possibly can. Set aside.
By now your squash should be cool enough to handle safely: scoop the flesh out with a large spoon and place the flesh into the container of your High-Speed Blender or food processor.
Add the rest of the ingredients for the sauce and process on high speed until really smooth and velvety, about 2 to 3 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides as necessary.
Assembling your lasagna
Reserve about 2 cups of the butternut squash sauce and pour the rest into a large mixing bowl. Add the cooked chicken, reserved spinach and cubed feta cheese. Stir delicately until well combined.
Spread about 1 cup of the reserved butternut squash sauce at the bottom of a 9" x 13" lasagna baking dish and top with 3 lasagna noodles.
Spread about half the chicken spinach mixture over those noodles, then cover with 3 more noodles, followed by the rest of the chicken spinach mixture.
Top with the final 3 noodles and cover with the remainder of the reserved butternut squash sauce.
Finally, sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese.
Bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes, until the cheese turns slightly golden and starts to bubble and the edges of the lasagna are nice and crispy.
Allow the lasagna to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving; garnish with chopped fresh parsley and a light sprinkle of nutmeg at the moment of serving, if desired.