Day 21: autumn, winter and christmas layered into one
It’s official: I have never before eaten so much butternut squash, since starting this 365 Days of Nigella cookalong, as I do now. I feel a fool to have missed out for so long on its sweet, moist, nutty, carrotty, sweet potato-like goodness. While there will of course be no substitute to meat, for me, I will gladly continue to welcome this gourd into my kitchen. With its dense texture, there is no need for an added protein - in my humble in opinion - and, sometimes that it just the kind of break that I, and indeed my digestion, need fulfilling.
I rarely see pumpkins (after Halloween), not even in the local farm shop, so it has now become subconscious habit for me to swap pumpkin for butternut squash when I see it listed in a recipe. So, strictly speaking, for today’s choice in the 365-day Nigella cookalong, I have in fact used butternut and not pumpkin in Nigella’s Pumpkin and Goat’s Cheese Lasagne. I love the way the light glistened on the cheesy crust; much like a fiery amber sun setting over a motionless, rippleless lake - as often depicted in old-fashioned animation.
Nigella’s Pumpkin and Goat’s Cheese Lasagne
It turns out I was quite unprepared for this particular cookalong. I channelled so much effort into ensuring I had ricotta (which I never buy) and goat’s cheese, that I paid little attention to whether or not I had any butternut. I knew I had some in the freezer, and because I halved this recipe I was sure it would be enough, but it turned out I was still missing fifty percent of the required gourd. Luckily, I had equal amounts of sweet potato in the freezer that I had chopped up (raw) from a sack I had bought earlier in the year. As they both have a sweet, starchy bite to them - I thought they would bring uniform joy to the mix.
I made a rookie mistake here; I neglected to the read the recipe in full before starting and as a result each step took me by surprise, resulting in a bit of a chaotic tumble about the kitchen. Put it this way, the clearing up took me as long as the preparation, but I take full responsibility for this lack of respect to the creator of the recipe; who took the time and made the effort to so calmly instruct us step by step.
After I pulled myself together, and indeed the four main components for building the lasagne - those being the tomato sauce, the butternut mix, the cheese mix and the lasagne sheets - I was ready to build, which I did with collected tranquillity.
Flavour musings
For me (someone who rarely adds even a courgette to a regular lasagne), this dish was quite the revelation. The starchy, sweet nuttiness from the butternut squash is delightfully offset by the tart, allium relish of the sauce that it was braised in. The lasagne sheets became plump with the crimson juices from the passata and the sharp, tangy nuances from the goat’s cheese balanced everything just exquisitely.
What I really love about this lasagne, are the flavours and colours of autumn, winter and Christmas that are mimicked so perfectly; earning it a proud place not just in Nigella’s Christmas, but also in mine. For the record, when it comes to my culinary calendar, I class Christmas recipes to be any that are used in the period from mid-October to mid-January, because it is a time of the year that I like to stretch out for as long as possible.
