Pumpkin Lasagne (or Ravelloni*)
Introduction: Pumpkin Lasagne (or Ravelloni*)
It smells of autumn everywhere.
Colorful leaves, frosty nights and flying kites. And of cause pumpkins... Everywhere.
You can't miss them, so go and grab one...
Around 10 years ago, one of my best friends and I mixed up several recipes and made pumpkin cannelloni. We really enjoyed it, but it was a mess to fill the store-bought cannelloni. Pumpkin spread everywhere... and we thought, next time we will just make lasagne. Same taste, less mess.
Nowadays I remembered the nice taste and decided it is time to recreate this dish. But this time I wanted to make it with self-made pasta. I did it and it was delicious, but it was a lot of work and also a huge mess (but fresh pasta tastes really nice). And I thought again "Why not just make a lasagne with the pumpkin mash and the white sauce? Same taste, but less mess"
So I recreated it as a lasagne. My leftover pumpkin was almost the same weight (390gr) and I still had half of the cheese spread.
What can I tell you, it's the same taste, but less mess and less preparation time (as long as you make it with store-bought lasagne plates). But since I already documented all steps for the fresh pasta and the ravioli making, I wanted to share this with you too.
Maybe next time I will make it as lasagne with fresh pasta plates, and it will even be better, who knows...
*Ravelloni (half ravioli, half cannelloni)
Step 1: Pumpkin Lasagne: Ingredients and Tools
Ingredients:
Pumpkin Filling:
* 400gr Hokkaido pumpkin
* 2 Onions
* 1 Garlic Clove
* 200ml vegetable broth
* oil
* grated cheese
* Salt, pepper, ground nutmeg
Cheese Sauce:
* 300ml milk
* 100gr cheese spread herbs
* 3Tbs flour
* Salt, Pepper
Tools:
* kitchen scale
* mixing bowl
* chopping board
* sharp knife
* baking pan
* 1 big pot
* 1 small pot
* stirring spoon
* hand blender
Step 2: Prepare the Pumpkin Puree
1. Scoop out the pumpkin seeds and chop the pumpkin into cubes.
2. Cut and dice the onions, peel the garlic clove.
Heat some oil and start sauteing the onions
3. Add the pressed garlic.
4. Add the pumpkin cubes and the vegetable broth and let simmer for 15min.
5. Blend the cooked cubes until smooth.
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Season the puree with salt, pepper, and ground nutmeg.
Step 3: Prepare the White Cheese Sauce
1. Heat the milk until boiling.
2. Add the cheese spread.
3. Fill the flour into a glass and add a little cold water, stir well.
4. Wait until the milk boils again and add your flour water. The heat will "activate" the flour and it will thicken the sauce.
5. Season with salt and pepper (and if you like some fresh garden herbs)
Step 4: Prepare the Lasagne
1. Take the oven pan and cover the bottom with white sauce.
2. Cover the bottom with a pasta plate. Since my baking pan is round I needed to break up the plates.
3. Cover with pumpkin puree.
4. Continue stacking with pasta, white sauce, pasta, pumpkin, pasta...
5. Continue until both pots are empty and finish with a layer of white sauce.
6. Cover with grated cheese and set into your oven.
7. Bake at 180°C /356F for approx. 25min.
8. Let sit for 10min before eating to allow some leftover liquid to be absorbed by the pasta.
Step 5: Enjoy Your Pumpkin Lasagne
Your lasagne is ready to be eaten by you and your favorite people.
Enjoy your taste of autumn. 265