My husband always comments how good this dish is when I make it. I agree, it is thoroughly satisfying. It takes about 20 minutes to prepare and then bakes for an hour. Although lasagna always seems so labor intensive, this lasagna uses butternut squash instead of noodles, which requires no boiling and the meat sauce only uses one pan. Win!
1 yellow onion
1 large stalk celery
4 garlic cloves, grated
2 T. dried basil
1 T. dried oregano
2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 lb. organic ground beef
1 can of coconut milk (Native Forests Simple contains no guar gum)
sea salt
1 T. pastured lard or fat of choice
2 T. tapioca flour or arrowroot flour
1 butternut squash
Begin to prepare the meat sauce by melting lard over medium heat in a medium-sized saute pan. Dice onion, add to pan and sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt, stir. Cook stirring occasionally until onion is translucent. Add diced celery, a pinch of sea salt and stir. Saute until celery begins to soften. Add ground beef, a heavy pinch of sea salt, garlic, basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary. Cook and stir, using a wooden spoon to crumble and brown beef mixture. Add coconut milk and incorporate well. Finally, add tapioca flour in the middle of pan and gently stir into liquid by incorporating the tapioca flour into liquid slowly as to avoid clumps. Turn off heat and set aside.
Prep butternut squash noodles by peeling with a vegetable peeler. Chop off the ends and make a horizontal cut before the squash bubbles out near the bottom, this is about 2/3rds down the squash. Now, there are two pieces. The bottom, wider part, contains seeds. Cut this in half starting at the cut end on through to the very bottom. Scoop out seeds using a grapefruit spoon if you have one, if not, a regular teaspoon will do. Slice the squash into as long of strips as you can muster. Mine usually end up about a half inch thick.
In a 9 x 11 casserole pan, begin by covering the bottom of the pan with squash. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Next, spoon half of the meat sauce over. Add another layer of butternut squash, sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Add the rest of the meat sauce. Top with whatever remaining pieces of squash that you have left making it look as pretty as you prefer.
Cover with tin foil.
Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 30 minutes uncovered.
Let cool slightly before cutting. Yields 6 servings.
Real Food, Real Health 