It started getting a little cold here last week, and there’s nothing like a homey casserole to warm you up. Enter Pumpkin, Sausage and Sage Lasagna. Credit for this amazingness goes to one of my fave food blogs, Little Yellow Kitchen, for this awesome twist on the Italian favorite. You get pumpkin, chard, ricotta, sausage, mozzarella and sage in a delicious garlic cream sauce. Yup. It’s delicious. And what better time to incorporate pumpkin into one of my favorite foods? LYK’s post on it has MUCH better pictures than mine…I’ve got to work on that…

As with any lasagna, there’s a bit of work involved in this one, so allow some time. It’s pretty brilliant to incorporate a green such as chard into it as well — you get some earthiness from that as well as the sage and pumpkin. I picked up a bunch at the farmers market and it was awesome.

TW’s Tips

• I used a whole bunch of chard instead of 3 cups — it was more like 6 (though not tightly packed). More veggie action.
• This makes a lot, so if you’re not going to eat it all soon, freeze half, or cut into one-serving size portions so you can pull one out of the freezer in the morning for dinner that night.
• Serve with a side salad.

Pumpkin, Sausage & Sage Lasagna

Ingredients

• 3 cups rainbow chard, chopped (or more!)
• 3 garlic cloves, grated or mashed
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 10 to 12 fresh sage leaves, chopped
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 2 small white onions, diced
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 15-ounce cans pure pumpkin puree
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups fresh ricotta
• 2 cups freshly grated parmesan
• 1 box no-boil, oven ready, flat lasagna noodles (Trader Joe’s!)
• 12 ounces fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place chard in a large microwave proof bowl and microwave for 4 minutes, until wilted.

Meanwhile, cook the onions and sausage with a drizzle of olive oil in a medium pan. Cook for 8-9 minutes or until sausage is cooked through and the onion is translucent. Add the sage and stir for about 30 seconds. Add the chard, stir, and season with salt and pepper.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the milk and garlic and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook until slightly thickened (the sauce will coat the back of a spoon evenly).

Whisk together the pumpkin puree, 2 eggs and some salt and pepper in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the ricotta, half the parmesan and the remaining egg.
Pour half the garlic sauce into the bottom of a deep 9×13 inch (or larger if you have it) baking dish. Add a layer of lasagna sheets and then half the pumpkin mixture. Make another layer of lasagna sheets (pressing down lightly) and spread with all of the ricotta mixture, followed by the sausage and chard mixture. Top with half the mozzarella, another layer of lasagna sheets, the remaining pumpkin and another layer of lasagna sheets. Finish with the remaining garlic sauce and sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and mozzarella.

Bake the lasagna, covered, for 45 minutes. Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees F and continue to bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes more. Let rest for 15 minutes, then cut and serve.