Lasagna with Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce
Ingredients
Roasted garlic cream sauce
Makes enough for lasagna and mushroom pinwheels.
2 heads roasted garlic
1/4 cup (60 mL) butter
2 tbsp (30 mL) flour
½ cup (125 mL) white wine
3 cups (750 mL) heavy whipping cream
½ cup (125 mL) cream cheese
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
Lasagna
2 lb (1 kg) butternut squash,
peeled and cut into 2-cm cubes
1 leek, washed and chopped
2 cups (500 mL) ricotta
2 cups (500 mL) parmesan,
grated
1 package lasagna noodles
1 head of kale, de-stemmed,
roughly chopped and washed
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
1½ tbsp + ½ tablespoons olive oil
Directions
To make the roasted garlic cream sauce, slice off the top of the head of garlic to expose the tip of each clove, wrap in foil with 2 tsp olive oil, salt and pepper and bake at 400F/204C for 1 hour or until fragrant and softened. Roast alongside the butternut squash, cubed and drizzled in the remaining olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Bake for around 45 minutes or until you can easily prick with fork.
Meanwhile in a pan on medium heat, sauté the chopped leeks with butter until they soften and start to brown, about 10 minutes. Add kale and sauté until wilted and bright green. Mix in the roasted butternut squash and set aside until ready to assemble.
Combine ricotta with 1 cup parmesan cheese.
In a pot, add the roasted garlic (squeeze from the skin and mashed), combine with butter and cook on medium heat until the butter has melted and starts to bubble. Add flour and whisk continuously for about two minutes. Add white wine, cook for another couple of minutes, whisking and scraping any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add cream cheese and whisk until melted then slowly add heavy whipping cream while whisking. Once sauce is smooth and hot remove from heat. Don't let the mixture boil.
This recipe makes enough for lasagna and mushroom pinwheels. If making both dishes, set aside 1/4 of sauce for pinwheels.
Cook noodles to package directions in salted water and drain.
To assemble, in a large casserole dish begin layering the components, roasted garlic cream sauce, pasta, butternut squash mixture, pasta, ricotta-parmesan mixture, roasted garlic cream sauce and repeat 3 times. Pour the remaining roasted garlic cream sauce over the top layer of pasta and top with the remaining cup of parmesan and freshly-cracked black pepper. At this point, if freezing you may cover tightly and place in freezer. To cook from frozen, bake at 375F/190C covered in foil for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 20 minutes until the cheese has browned.
If cooking fresh, bake uncovered at 425F/218C for 30 minutes. Let rest 10-15 minutes.