Butternut Squash and Pork Lasagna

Preparation

Prep butternut squash sauce

Peel and carefully cut the butternut squash in half. With a spoon, scoop out the seeds and discard, then roughly dice squash into small chunks. Peel and finely chop onion. In a large pot, melt butter on medium heat. Add onions and cook for 5-7 minutes until semi-transluscent and softened. Add the diced butternut squash to the pot along with sage leaves, garlic, thyme leaves, cinnamon, brown sugar, kosher salt, can of tomatoes plus its juice, and chicken broth.

Bring mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes until the butternut squash has completely softened and can be pierced through easily with a knife. Once simmered, pour everything into a blender and blend until smooth.

Make meat mixture for butternut squash sauce

In a large pot drizzled with olive oil on medium-high heat, (you can just wipe down the same large pot while the butternut squash sauce sits in the blender) add in diced scallions and cook until fragrant and sizzling, about 30 seconds. Add ground pork, kosher salt, sugar, and sesame oil to the pot. Cook and stir frequently until the pork has browned. Pour the butternut squash sauce back into the pot and mix until combined with meat. Turn the heat to low and cover, simmering for another 20 minutes. Once cooked, give it a taste and adjust for any additional salt or acid as needed.

Make noodles and ricotta sauce

While the sauce is simmering, bring a pot of water to boil. Add dry lasagna sheets and boil for 3 minutes until semi-cooked. Place lasagna sheets onto an oiled sheetpan so they don't stick to one another.

In a mixing bowl, add in ricotta, mozarella, scallions, and kosher salt. Mix until combined and set aside in the fridge until ready to use.

Assemble and cook

Preheat an oven to 425°F. In a 9x9 greased pan, add a thin layer of butternut squash sauce (this allows the lasagna sheets to not stick to the bottom of the pan). Now we can start assembling!

🟨 For the 1st layer, place one layer of lasagna sheets on top, arranging them so they cover the area of the pan (you can cut them to size for any gaps or just overlap them I'm not too fussy with it).

🥫For the 2nd layer, add a thin layer of butternut squash on top of the lasagna sheets.

🧀 For the 3rd and final layer, add dollops of ricotta on top of the butternut squash sauce. Repeat until you've reached the top of the pan with one last generous layer of cheese, you should get about 4-5 layers of pasta/sauce/cheese. For an extra melty cheesy top layer, feel free to add some extra pieces of mozzarella on the top.

Cook for 45 minutes until the top and edges are crisped and melted with some brown spots. Rest for 30 minutes so the lasagna can set. Cut into squares and serve with some extra scallions or chives on top!