Butternut squash, spinach with caramelized onions, and yellow squash lasagna with a béchamel sauce

The mere mention of butternut squash makes my mouth water.  Everything about that lovely winter squash is appealing to me.  Its warm tan skin that yields to a pleasing orange flesh; its aromatic scent, and sweet, earthy flavor.  No matter how butternut squash is cooked it is absolutely delicious.

We had two small butternut squash leftover from another dish that called for them.  How to use the extra butternut squash, I wondered?  Thinking of the bad ass 4" deep lasagna pan my brother gave me for Christmas...  Lasagna!  Once this thought entered my mind the rest of the recipe fell into place.

First, start heating a large stock pot of water to cook the noodles.

To make the béchamel sauce I used Julia Child's recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  It is as follows:

This basic sauce takes about 5 minutes to make, and is then ready for the addition of flavors or enrichments.  

For 2 cups (medium thickness)
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• A heavy-bottomed, 6-cup enameled, stainless steel, lined copper, porcelain, or pyrex saucepan.
• 2 TB butter
• 3 TB flour
• A wooden spatula or spoon

In the saucepan melt the butter over low heat.  Blend in the flour, and cook slowly, stirring, until the butter and flour froth together for 2 minutes without coloring.  This is now a white roux.

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• 2 cups of milk and 1/4 tsp salt heated to the boil in a small saucepan
• To the milk I added 1-1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream.  This addition is considered an enrichment.
• A wire whip

Remove roux from heat.  As soon as roux has stopped bubbling, pour in all the hot liquid at once.  Immediately beat vigorously with a wire whip to blend liquid and roux, gathering in all bits of roux from the inside edges of the pan.

Set saucepan over moderately high heat and stir with the wire whip until the sauce comes to the boil.  Boil for 1 minute, stirring.

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• Salt and white pepper

Remove from heat, and beat in salt and pepper t taste.  Sauce is now ready for final flavorings or additions.

* If not used immediately, clean sauce off inside edges of pan with a rubber scraper.  To prevent a skin from forming on its surface, float a thin film of milk, stock, or melted butter on top.  Set aside uncovered, keep it hot over simmering water, refrigerate, or freeze it.

Once the béchamel was finished, to it I added a 1/2 tsp of roasted granulated garlic, a 1/2 tsp of thyme, 2 tsp of parsley flakes, another 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream, and 1 TB Romano cheese powder.

White roux

Adding milk mixture to roux

Finished béchamel.
Too bad the image is out of focus.

Next, thinly slice a large yellow onion (Vidalia, if they're in season) and begin sautéing it in a large skillet with a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  You should have about two cups of sliced onion, give or take.  Allow them to sauté slowly, stirring occasionally, until they begin to turn golden brown.  Once the onions reach this stage, add a 10-ounce bag of raw spinach to the same pan, right on top of the onions, along with 2 TB of water.  Place a tight fitting lid on the skillet, turn the flame up to medium-high, and allow the spinach to cook down.  Once cooked down, stir to mix the onions and spinach together.  Turn the heat off once the spinach has finished cooking.

Now for the squash - you will need two smaller butternut squash.  Trim away the skin and then run the squash lengthwise across a mandolin to shave thin slices off with each pass. Do this until you just reach the seeds.  Turn the squash and shave until you reach the seeds, and repeat.  After you've shaved away all four sides of the squash, cut away the core and then shave what remains of the neck.

Slice the yellow squash crosswise using the mandolin.  One average sized yellow squash will yield about 1-1/2 - 2 cups thinly sliced rounds.

Add the yellow squash to a skillet with 1 TB olive oil and lightly sauté over medium heat. Once they've softened and are slightly golden, remove from heat and set aside.

You're now ready to assemble the lasagna!  At this point, turn your oven on 375° F degrees to preheat.

Add a ladleful or two to the bottom of the lasagna pan, and then a layer of noodles.  Allow the sides of the noodles to overlap slightly.  Then, layer thusly:

• Butternut squash (randomly added, not neat rows in a single layer)
• Sauce
• Sprinkle 1 TB of Romano cheese powder over sauce
• Noodles
• Butternut squash (again, randomly added)
• Sauce
• 1 TB Romano cheese power sprinkled over sauce
• Noodles
• Spinach and onion mixture
• Noodles
• Yellow squash with 1 TB Romano cheese power sprinkled on top
• Noodles
• Top generously with béchamel sauce, more Romano cheese powder, and parsley flakes

Not all of the butternut squash were used.  Most of them, but not all.

Yellow squash layer

Ready to go into the oven

Bake for 50 - 60 minutes in the center of the oven.

Viola!

Bon Appétit!