A saucy vegetable-based alternative to a traditional lasagne. If catering for vegetarians, omit the pancetta and swap the Parmesan for vegetarian hard cheese instead (making sure to check your pesto is vegetarian-friendly too). Buy your wild mushrooms from a grocer or farmer’s market, or if sourcing your own be sure to pick them with an experienced forager. Cultivated exotic mushrooms – sold in most supermarkets - make an excellent substitute.
butternut squash, peeled, deseeded, and cut into 1cm slices
2
garlic cloves, crushed
75g
cubed smoked pancetta
400g
wild mushrooms, large ones torn
2tsp.
vegetable oil
150g
dried lasagne sheets
For the pesto sauce
50g
butter
50g
plain flour
750ml
milk
150g
fresh basil pesto
50g
Parmesan, finely grated
Directions
Step 1Preheat oven to 200ºC (180ºC fan) mark 6. Put the butternut squash, garlic, pancetta and mushrooms in a large roasting tin, drizzle with oil and mix together with your hands. Cook in the oven for 30min until the butternut is tender. Reduce oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan) mark 4.
Step 2Meanwhile make the pesto sauce. Melt butter in a medium pan over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook for 1min. Remove pan from heat and gradually add the milk, beating well after each addition, until you have a smooth sauce. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened (it will need to boil). Stir in the pesto and check seasoning. Remove from heat, then lay clingfilm directly on the surface to prevent a skin forming, set aside until needed.
Step 3To assemble, spoon 1/3 of the roasted butternut mixture into a 2 litre ovenproof serving dish and arrange 1/3 of the lasagne sheets on top. Spoon 1/3 of the pesto sauce over the top. Repeat layering twice more with remaining butternut mixture, lasagne sheets and sauce, finishing with a final layer pesto sauce and the grated Parmesan.
Step 4Cook in the oven for 30-35min or until golden. Serve with salad, if you like.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
