Summer Squash Lasagna
Do you also have TWO TONS of zuuchini or summer squash taking over your kitchen? This recipe will use up to 8 lbs of it + it's delightful. Wins all around!
What an absolute delight. I love eating lasagna like once a year at a nice Italian place, but never have I ever made it. This recipe opened up a whole new world for me. Why didn’t anyone tell me homemade lasagna can be easy if you want it to be?
Traditionally, you would make a Bechamel sauce (a white sauce) and a Bolognese (a red meat sauce), but it is the dead of summer my friends. I was not about to make five different cooked sauces for one meal. Summertime means it is time for simplicity (says the girl who made pasta on a Monday afternoon). But truly! This was relatively easy, so light and fresh, and honestly one of the most perfect hot summer meals I have ever had. Very reminiscent of Greek Spanakopita flavor wise (this would be incredible with feta, speaking of!)
A bit of a longer one, but I just wanted to say that YOU DO NOT NEED TO MAKE YOUR OWN PASTA SHEETS FOR THIS. My sweet friend gave me fresh eggs from her farm and that is why I made my own pasta. Truthfully, it was delish and very worth it texturally, but I will include instructions for both store bought and homemade! Lets get it!
Ingredients for whole recipe (broken down into sections below):
8 oz grated parm
2 cups semolina flour
5 eggs. 2 whole eggs, 3 egg yolks
1/2 c olive oil
1 Tbsp water
3 Tbsp salt
6-8 lbs zuuchini and/or summer squash, sliced thinly
1 white onion, sliced thinly lengthwise
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz fresh spinach
8 oz fresh basil
16 oz whole milk ricotta
1 lemon. zested and juiced
2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 cup low moisture mozzarella, shredded
Handmade Pasta Sheets:
2 cups semolina flour
5 eggs. 2 whole eggs, 3 egg yolks
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp water
2 tsp fine ground salt
Dump the semolina onto a very clean work surface into a large pile. Create a well in the middle of the pile. Pour your eggs, oil, water, and salt into the well. With a fork, gently whisk the ingredients together while taking in a tiny bit of the semolina at the edge of the well at a time. Be patient here as it is much easier to do this slowly instead of having everything spill over the sides (I did this haha). Once the wet is mostly combined with the dry, use a bench scraper to “chop” the dough 3-4 times. This can be repeated and will help get the rest of the dry bits incorporated. When the dough is shaggy, start kneading it with your hands! This can take a minute, but again, fresh pasta is always a treat. Once the dough has been kneaded for about 5-10 minutes, it should be a smooth ball that is not sticky. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and let rest at room temp for an hour, or preferably in the fridge overnight.
Sauteed Zuuchini + Squash filling:
6-8 lbs zuuchini and/or summer squash, sliced thinly
1 white onion, sliced thinly lengthwise
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 tsp salt
In a large preheated skillet, add the olive oil and let that heat for 10-15 seconds. Add the sliced onion and let it sizzle for 1-2 minutes before adding the sliced squash. Sautee the squash and onions with no salt for about 5 minutes. This will encourage browning. Once your veggies have a little bit of color on them, go ahead and salt the mixture. Let the veg cook down until soft and caramelized, about 15-20 minutes. The reason we do this is to cook off a majority of the water contained in the veggies so we don’t end up with a soupy lasagna. Take off the heat and add in the minced garlic. Stir thoroughly, and taste for salt. Add more if needed. Set aside in a medium sized bowl.
Spinach basil Sauce:
6 oz fresh spinach
8 oz fresh basil
1 lemon, juiced
2 tsp salt
1/4 c olive oil
Blend ingredients together in a food processor or blender until combined. You can blanch the green prior to blending to keep the green color super vibrant, but since we are baking this in the oven I found it to not be super worth it. The top layer of this mixture will oxidize a tiny bit, but again it is summer and I do not want to fuss about the little things (I am just a girl!)
Ricotta Filling:
16 oz whole milk ricotta
3 tsp salt
1 lemon. zested
2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup low moisture mozzarella, shredded
Combine ingredients in a medium sized bowl until evenly distributed. Set aside.
Assembly:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
If making fresh pasta sheets, split the dough into 8 equal sections. Roll out each small dough piece with a pasta roller or a rolling pin into long oblong sheets. This is going to be a very rustic lasagna, so no need to be perfect here. The sheets just need to fit in your baking vessel lengthwise! You know the pasta is thin enough when you are able to see your hand through the pasta when held up to the light (obviously not like glass, but you should be able to see the outline of your hand when held up to a window). NOTE: If making fresh pasta, you do not need to precook the sheets. The pasta will cook perfectly in the oven!
If using store bought lasagna sheets, I would suggest about 1 lb of pasta sheets. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Salt the water heavily. Cook for 5-6 minutes. The pasta should only be cooked about half way as the cooking will finish in the oven. Take the sheets out and put them on an oiled tray one by one, spreading oil in between each sheet to prevent sticking.
In a 9”x13” pan, drizzle a bit of olive oil in the bottom. Scoop about 1/3 c of the ricotta filling and spread into a thin layer. Add two pasta sheets, side by side on top of the first layer of ricotta. Spread 1/3 c of the spinach basil sauce, 1/3 of the sauteed veggies, and a sprinkling of parm. Add the next layer of pasta, a layer of ricotta, veggies, parm and then spinach basil sauce. Repeat and use the rest of the ingredients, except about 2 Tbsp of the ricotta mixture and the grated parm. Add the final two sheets of pasta, spread a thin layer of the reserved ricotta, sprinkle with parm, and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for 40 minutes until bubbly and golden brown. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. Top with more Olive oil and a pinch of flakey salt. Enjoyyyy!! xoxo