Butternut Squash & Spinach Lasagna Pin-Wheels
These lasagna pin-wheels are filled with not one but two delicious fillings. A butternut squash and spinach and cheese filling get wrapped up with the silkiest pasta sheets & smothered in a creamy cheesy sauce. Talk about heaven in a bite.
Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes minutes
Pasta: Mixing & Rolling out: 15 minutes minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes minutes
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Butternut Squash, Cheese Sauce, Lasagna, Lasagna Pin Wheels, Lasagna Roll Ups, Mornay Sauce, Spinach
Servings: 4
PASTA
- 196 g "00" Flour
- 2 Whole Eggs
- 4 Egg Yolks
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
FILLINGS & SAUCE
- 11oz Spinach Fresh
- 3/4 Cup Ricotta
- 3/4 Cup Mozzarella grated
- 1/3 Cup Parmigiano Reggiano grated
- 1/8-1/4 tsp Nutmeg
- Salt & Pepper
- 1 Cup Butternut Squash Puree
- 1 Large Shallot chopped
- 3 Cloved Garlic chopped
- 6 Tbsp Butter
- 1/4 Cup AP Flour
- 4 Cups Whole Milk
- 1 Cup Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese grated
MAKE THE PASTA
FLOUR: Weigh out the flour using a kitchen scale & place in a bowl, pie dish or directly on a work surface. Create a well in the center.
EGGS + OIL: Crack 2 whole eggs into the well. Divide 4 eggs, discarding the whites in a separate container (keep for breakfast) and adding the yolks to the flour. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the eggs.
WHISK: Using a large fork begin to whisk the eggs and oil until cohesive. Begin to scrape in some flour to gradually incorporate. When it becomes too thick to whisk begin to use your hands to mix it into a rough dough. It will be sticky, work all of the flour into the dough. I like to wash my hands at this point to knead with clean hands.
KNEAD: Sprinkle your work surface very lightly with flour. Place the rough dough ball onto the flour and lightly dust the top. Place the ball of your hand into the center and press down and out. Fold the dough onto itself, rotate the dough a quarter turn. Again press down and out. Fold the dough onto itself and do another quarter turn. Continue to knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is nice and smooth.
REST: Wrap the pasta dough in plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or in the refrigerator overnight before rolling out.
ROLL OUT PASTA
DIVIDE: Cut the ball of dough in 4 quarters. Keep the rest covered if you're not working with them.
ROLL OUT: Take a quarter of the dough and press it down in the shape of a rectangle. Starting at setting 1, place the rectangle into the slot with the wide end facing down and roll it out. Turn the dial to the next setting 2 (then 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). Continue to feed the dough through until it gets thin enough to see your hand through. If you want it thicker, by all means stop at a lower setting.Not all pasta makers have the same settings. Mine goes from 1-9, 9 being the thinnest.
DUST: Sprinkle flour on each side of the long sheet of pasta and dust the flour to evenly distribute.
CUT: Cut each long sheet in half to make two pieces. You should have 12 pieces total.
MAKE THE CHEESE SAUCE
SWEAT THE SHALLOTS & GARLIC: In a medium pot over medium heat, melt the butter and sweat the shallots for about 5 min. Add the garlic for 1 more minute.
FLOUR: Sprinkle the flour over the butter and shallots and stir together. Cook for a few minutes.
MILK & NUTMEG: Gradually add the milk a little at a time while continuing to whisk. Bring to a simmer and cook until it thickens. Add about 1/4 tsp of nutmeg as it's simmering.
CHEESE: Turn off the heat and stir in 1 cup of parmigiano reggiano cheese. As the sauce cools it will thicken a little bit more.
MAKE THE BUTTERNUT SQUASH FILLING
ROAST the Butternut Squash. Peel, remove seeds and cube the butternut squash. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
PUREE: Blend the roasted squash in a food processor or blender until smooth.
COMBINE 1 cup of the Mornay and 1 cup of the butternut squash puree in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
MAKE THE SPINACH & CHEESE FILLING
BLANCH SPINACH + ICE BATH: In a pot of boiling water submerge the spinach for 1-2 minutes until just begins to wilt and turns bright great. Immediately put the blanched spinach into an ice bath to stop the cooking.
SQUEEZE OUT EXCESS LIQUID: Using a clean kitchen towel (that doesn't shed) squeeze as much of the excess liquid from the spinach
BLEND: In a food processor combine the spinach, mozzarella, ricotta, parmigiano reggiano and nutmeg. Blend until smooth.
MAKE THE PIN WHEELS & BAKE
PREHEAT the Oven to 400°
COOK NOODLES: Boil the lasagna noodles for 2 minutes if using fresh pasta. If using store bought follow the instructions from the manufactured for al dente.
LAYER: Lay out a cooked lasagna noodle and spread a layer of the butternut squash filling overtop. Lay another cooked lasagna noodle overtop and then spread the spinach filling overtop that one. Starting at a short end, roll up it up and cut it into 3-4 pieces.
BAKE: Place in a baking dish spiral side up and pour the rest of the cheese sauce over the pin wheels. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until bubbling and just starting to brown. (Optional) Sprinkle more mozzarella cheese and parmigiano reggiano to bake.