this lasagna is made with butternut squash to replace the noodles, and dry curd cottage to replace the ricotta, making it SCD diet friendly.
Before I got my shit together and finally bought dry curd cottage cheese, I made a butternut squash baked pasta dish that was essentially just a lazy man’s lasagna (no shame in that!!). Lo and behold, I finally managed to make it to Costco– one of the select few places in Montreal, Canada where I’ve been able to purchase dry curd cottage cheese– and stock up on a few bricks of DCCC. It should be known, I went to Costco before the pandemic hit, and I feel grateful that I managed that trip considering the scenes of craziness at Costco that began when people started hoarding toilet paper.
Back to lasagna– lasagna is a classic dish. It’s comfort food. There’s nothing quite like a slice of hot lasagna, with melted cheese on the top, tomato sauce and ground beef unable to contain itself. You know, the type of lasagna that just falls all over the place because of how stuffed it is. That’s when you know it’s legit. I wanted to recreate that with this butternut squash lasagna, that’s grain free, gluten free, and uses thinly sliced butternut squash as the noodles.
Apart from butternut squash replacing your usual gluten-ful lasagna noodle, the other key to this recipe is using dry curd cottage cheese instead of ricotta or cottage cheese, since both are not SCD legal. Farmer’s cheese, aka dry curd cottage cheese, is the perfect swap for ricotta though, and it provides that extra creaminess and sweetness to the lasagna dish that really bring all the layers of meat, sauce, cheese and squash together.
If you can find butternut squash noodles ready-made at your grocery store, that’s a big plus. I haven’t been so lucky, so instead my trick to cutting the squash is to first cut off the elongated top part. Use this part for your squash noodles, and keep the bottom half to turn into fries or for another dish. Using the elongated piece will work better to then cut thin slices down the length of the squash, as many as you can. You may end up with a few smaller pieces as well, but it’s not a problem to use those pieces and simply scatter them evenly beside each other to form a layer of squash noodles.Ultimately, whether the slices are smaller pieces or bigger chunks it will still taste delicious, but the thicker the chunk the longer it will take to cook all the way through (you may need to increase the cooking time). Thinner is better, if possible!
butternut squash lasagna: ingredients
- 1 small to medium-sized butternut squash
- 1 lb of ground beef approx
- 1 cup of dry curd cottage cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 + 1/2 cups of shredded old cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan
- 2 cups of tomato sauce
- 1 tsp of oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp of thyme
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
butternut squash lasagna: how to
- sautee the ground beef with the garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to taste, until cooked.
- while beef is cooking, peel the outer skin off your butternut squash (you can use a regular vegetable peeler to do this), and cut off the bottom half of it, setting it aside for another use (I tend to make fries out of the bottom half).
- thinly slice the elongated top half off the butternut squash into sheets as best you can – you’ll want approximately four sheets.
- shred your parmesan and cheddar cheeses. mix the 1 cup of dry curd cottage cheese with the egg and thyme. whisk until well combined.
- once the ground beef is finished, prepare your lasagna by layering the tomato sauce, butternut quash slices, meat, and sauce with cheese.
- in an 11-inch (approximately) glass baking dish, start with a thin layer of tomato sauce, then put a layer of butternut squash slices, add a some of the DCCC-egg mixture, top with a layer of ground beef, tomato sauce, and sprinkle some of the cheddar cheese across it. repeat this once more, and then top with a final layer of butternut squash slices, cheddar cheese and parmesan.
- bake in the oven at 375 for 45 minutes, the cheese should be slightly golden brown and bubbling.
grain free butternut squash lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 small to medium-sized butternut squash
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup dry curd cottage cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 + 1/2 cups shredded old cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- sautee the ground beef with the garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to taste, until cooked.
- while beef is cooking, peel the outer skin off your butternut squash (you can use a regular vegetable peeler to do this), and cut off the bottom half of it, setting it aside for another use (I tend to make fries out of the bottom half).
- thinly slice the elongated top half off the butternut squash into sheets as best you can – you’ll want approximately four sheets.
- shred your parmesan and cheddar cheeses. mix the 1 cup of dry curd cottage cheese with the egg and thyme. whisk until well combined.
- once the ground beef is finished, prepare your lasagna by layering the tomato sauce, butternut quash slices, meat, and sauce with cheese.
- in an 11-inch (approximately) glass baking dish, start with a thin layer of tomato sauce, then put a layer of butternut squash slices, add a some of the DCCC-egg mixture, top with a layer of ground beef, tomato sauce, and sprinkle some of the cheddar cheese across it. repeat this once more, and then top with a final layer of butternut squash slices, cheddar cheese and parmesan.
- bake in the oven at 375 for 45 minutes, the cheese should be slightly golden brown and bubbling.