Pumpkin & Courgette Lasagna

These delicious lasagne are made as the title obviously says with pumpkin and zucchine. Unfortunately during Halloween, pumpkins in the UK are just used for carving and the flesh discarded, which is a pity as they can be used in various recipes, from savoury to sweet. Here in the UK they mostly use the butternut squash which is similar to pumpkin. Well luckily, that said it was a very big advantage for us as we bought two massive pumpkins for just £1 each, chopped them into chunks and froze them in freezer bags as by the way they only appear during Halloween over here. Back to the lasagne, this is prepared with layers of grilled zucchine, sliced mozzarella, single cream and delicious pumpkin and bacon purée. The most time consuming procedure of this recipe is preparing and grilling the zucchine, which you can always prepare in advance if you like. If you do not have or you cannot find pumpkin you can do this with butternut squash. Also, if you want some delicious vegetarian lasagne just leave the bacon part out! If you omit the cream, the lasagne will end up very dry so do use it, you can use light cream or even milk thickened with flour instead. Anyhow here are the ingredients that you will need...

• 4 large zucchine/courgettes, sliced lengthwise
• 1.5 kg pumpkin, cut into large pieces
• 3 mozzarella balls [375g], sliced
• 100g streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces (optional)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 150ml single cream
• 250g lasagne sheets
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Olive oil

How to...

1. Firstly prepare the zucchine. Start by brushing them with olive oil, then grill them until soft. [The thinner you slice them, the quicker they will cook]. When done put them on a plate with kitchen roll and set them aside.
2. Next fry the onion in 2 tbsp of olive oil until soft and transparent. When the onion is done, add the bacon and the garlic and cook until the bacon is golden. Set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Put the pumpkin in a large oven tray skin side up, add a small glass of water. Bake in the hot oven for about 30 minutes. When cooked, carefully peel the skin off or scoop the flesh with a teaspoon.
4. Next put the cooked pumpkin together with the onion/bacon mixture in a blender, add some olive oil and the nutmeg, season well with salt & pepper and blend until you get a smooth purée.
5. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
6. Now it is time to start layering the lasagne. Start by pouring some cream, then some pumpkin mixture, then lasagne sheets, then another layer of pumpkin purée, sliced zucchine, mozzarella slices, then start all over again and continue until you have used all of the ingredients. Be careful not to press the lasagne sheets too much, just put them loosely.
7. When done, put in the hot oven and bake until the top is brown and bubbly. Around 30 to 45 minutes.

Enjoy!!!!

R&A