In this age of the internet troll, reading the comments or reviews for anything online can be a soul-crushing endeavor. Sometimes, however, it yields unexpected inspiration for the brave soul who endures it. Such is the case with today’s post. A number of years ago, Gourmet magazine featured a recipe for a Butternut Squash and Creamed-Spinach Gratin that has been on Kyle’s “to cook” list for quite a while. It’s a pretty long list, so things get lost in the shuffle. A lot. It reared its delicious little head again while searching for holiday side dish ideas, and while re-reading the recipe on epicurious.com, he ventured onto the “reviews” thread to see how it fared (very well, btw) as an indication of whether or not it warranted further consideration for this year’s menu. Some glorious soul—we’re looking at you, Yogacabana in New England—pointed out that the cooked butternut slices bore a textural resemblance to lasagna noodles and we found ourselves in one of those needle-dragging-across-a-record, “Hold everything!” moments.
As you can see from the pictures, a future classic was born. Actually, it’s more like culinary conjoined twins, joined at the deliciousness. Not only is this a fabulous, gluten free, seasonal alternative to lasagna, but it is also a great vegetarian offering at Thanksgiving for any friends or family members eschewing the turkey.
Thankfully (’tis the season, after all), we didn’t have to look far and wide for all of the components that we would need to turn the gratin into more of a lasagna-style casserole. We merely had to turn to the blog archives. While you could use any jarred tomato sauce, this is yet another perfect opportunity to whip up a batch of our favorite Simple Tomato Sauce, because you simply cannot go wrong with it and it is just soooo easy.
We also happen to have a pretty great Creamed Spinach recipe in the archive that holds a special place in our gluten free hearts because it introduced the technique of using sweet rice flour for the roux and we’ve had neither cause nor occasion to doubt it since. One time-saving “tweak” (we can’t resist, even with our own recipes) was to skip the steaming and wringing steps for the spinach.
By adding the raw, stemmed leaves to the cheese sauce, you can wilt the spinach and cook down the sauce in one simple step. Ta-dah! After the final ingredient swap of replacing the Gruyere cheese with Parmesan, thus venturing even farther away from the French-inspired gratin and closer to the Italian flavors of a traditional lasagna, all that remained was to prepare the squash and start building.
Another suggestion that the reviews on Epicurious yielded was to microwave the butternut squash for a few minutes. The technique seems like a bit of a cheat, but it makes a world of difference in the ease of both peeling the squash and slicing it on the mandolin. It was more effective even than our usual approach of swearing profusely at the peeler, the squash, the mandolin, the recipe, the kitchen and however much of the world is within earshot at the time, so Manosymama, whoever you are, you’re a genius. Also, the lasagna required less sliced squash than the gratin—which called for 4 whole pounds. (FOUR. Pounds! Yikes!)—so that saved a fair amount of time and money. Yay for that! One squash, weighing about 2 1/2 pounds, yielded enough slices for three good layers, interspersed with two layers of tomato sauce and one gorgeous, gooey layer of creamed spinach in the middle.
The result is a delectable, really interesting and truly beautiful side dish that would function equally well as a show-stopping main course for any Meatless Monday or holiday gathering requiring vegetarian options.
While the ingredients list for this recipe might seem as daunting as an internet comments thread, know that this is a safe space and you don’t need to be intimidated by the prospect of making this dish. Don’t miss out. We assure you that the most difficult part of the preparation is slicing the squash, and we even passed on a little kitchen hack to facilitate that. We’ve got you.
The creamed spinach and the tomato sauce can be made ahead, and you can even assemble the casserole a few days in advance if you need to. With proper planning, all you’ll have to do on the big day is pop it in the oven and brace yourself for the wave of compliments that will wash over you during dinner. This is definitely one of those “OMG, I have to have this recipe!” dishes.
If you’re anything like us, this butternut squash “lasagna noodle” thing already has you dreaming of more gluten free variations on the theme. It’s become a bit of a rabbit hole, really. Traditional lasagna with béchamel and tomato sauce, four cheese lasagna, mushroom lasagna with a gorgonzola cream sauce, garden vegetable lasagna with spicy arrabbiata sauce…like we said, Rabbit Hole. Next stop Wonderland… Stay tuned.
(Editor’s note: Since this recipe only calls for the top part of the butternut squash, in the spirit of “Waste not, want not,” some additional ideas for the base can be found here, here, here, and especially here. Enjoy!)
Adapted from Gourmet.
- 2 tablespoons butter, plus additional for greasing the pan
- 2 shallots, minced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons sweet white rice flour
- 1 cup milk (we used the 1% that we had on hand)
- 4 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1 ¼ cup), divided
- 2 pounds fresh spinach, stems discarded,
- 2 ½ pounds butternut squash (about 1 large), peeled, quartered, and seeded
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- Place large pot and place over medium-low heat. Melt the butter, then add the shallots and garlic, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Whisk in sweet white rice flour and cook roux, whisking, 3 minutes. Add milk in a fast stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, and simmer, whisking, until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in cream cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg, 1 cup of the grated Parmesan and cook, stirring, until cheese has melted, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add spinach, and cook, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes. Reserve creamed spinach mixture..
- Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Butter a 3-quart shallow baking dish.
- To peel the squash easily, place whole squash in the microwave and cook on high power for 2 to 3 minutes. Cut squash to separate bulb section from solid neck section, then cut pieces lengthwise into ⅛-inch-thick slices with slicer/mandoline.
- Place one layer of squash evenly along the bottom of the baking dish. Top with one cup of the tomato sauce. Repeat with another layer of the butternut squash slices and top with the creamed spinach mixture. Top creamed spinach with one final layer of the butternut squash then spread remaining cup of tomato sauce on top. Sprinkle with reserved Parmesan cheese.
- Cover the “lasagna” with aluminum foil and bake until squash is tender and filling is bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove paper and bake gratin until browned in spots, 10 to 15 minutes, or broil 3 inches from heat, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let the lasagna rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
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