Butternut Vegetarian Four Cheese Lasagna - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 2 cups butternut squash or 2 cups hubbard squash, diced and peeled
1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 lb asparagus, stems trimmed
1 pint ricotta cheese
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2/3 cup pesto sauce or 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
2 eggs, beaten
38 ounces prepared tomato sauce
9 lasagna noodles
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
4 ounces Italian cheese blend or 4 ounces fresh grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt & pepper

Preparation

Preheat Oven to 350\u00b0F.
Put eggplant in colander, salt liberally and let sit one hour. After one hour, rinse eggplant thoroughly, squeezing out excess water.
Place squash in bowl; drizzle with olive oil, toss to coat. Place on baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper, roast in oven until browned and tender, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile heat large pot of water to boil for pasta.
When squash is done remove from from parchment/foil and baking sheet, leaving the parchment or foil. Place squash in large bowl to cool slightly, then mash lightly. Place eggplant on parchment/foil on baking sheet and put in oven to roast, until tender about 15-20 minutes. When done remove from oven and place on plate and set aside.
In a medium bowl stir together ricotta, feta, pesto or fresh basil and salt and pepper to taste,until well mixed. (Careful to not over salt). Fold roasted squash into ricotta mixture.
When water has boiled, add asparagus and blanch for one minute, remove and place in colander, rinsing in cold water. Remove from colander and set aside.
Add noodles to boiling water and cook for 7 minutes. Drain, place in colander and rinse with cold water.
In a 9x13-inch baking dish, add half of tomato sauce. If using a glass dish, grease sides of pan first. Lay 3 lasagna noodles on bottom of pan, over sauce. Arrange a single layer of eggplant slices over pasta and top with half ricotta mixture. Cover with 3 more pasta noodles, arrange drained asparagus evenly over the noodles and spoon remaining ricotta mixture over the asparagus. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella cheese. Top with 3 lasagna noodles. Pour tomato sauce over all and sprinkle with the rest of mozzarella and Italian blend cheese or Parmesan cheese.
Cover pan lightly with foil, careful not to let touch cheese on top, but folding over ends of pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, removing foil the last 5 minutes, continue to cook until golden and bubbly.
Let sit 30 minutes before serving.
(Of course if you have the right oven,you could roast squash and eggplant at same time. It is not necessary to oil eggplant however).
The recipe originally called for pesto, but I used fresh basil. It is also less fattening that way. If asparagus is not available, you could use sauteed mushrooms, zucchini, yellow roasted peppers or broccoli. The original recipe called for roasted tomatoes in place of asparagus. I found it too labor intensive and redundant considering the tomato sauce. You may have more sauce than you need, but I don't like to be caught short-handed. Use your favorite tomato sauce for this dish.
Enjoy!