Mmmm...pumpkin lasagna!

I have made every attempt at trying to cook Fall into our home and it does seem to finally be cooling down a bit.  Yay!  Also yesterday's post about a sort of earthy space,  made me crave a dinner to match.  A few weeks back when Michelle of Studio Surface organized a recipe exchange, I had planned to make this pumpkin lasagna...one of my favorite dishes my aunt makes.  However, my husband had a jambalaya craving, so we went with that, but this time, my craving won.  Yum!...pumpkin lasagna it is!!  My aunt was wonderful enough to send me the recipe which she has adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates : Festive Meals for Holidays and Special Occasions.  It is a little time-consuming, but is so incredibly worth it!  I am so glad we made a huge pan of it because we have meals for the next few nights.  Here is my aunt Trish's recipe for pumpkin lasagna:

Ingredients
4 cups chopped onions
1 T olive oil
6 cups chopped mushrooms (I use a combination of portabella and white)
1/4 c fresh sage leaves
1 t salt
1 c Marsala
2 eggs, lightly beaten
29 oz can pumpkin puree
ground black pepper
3/4 pound lasagna noodles, uncooked
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1 1/2 c crumbled ricotta salata
3 c ricotta cheese
1/2 c Parmigiana Reggiano

1.  First we gathered all of the ingredients, then chopped the sage, mushrooms and onions, and then crumbled the ricotta salata.

2.  Saute onions in olive oil until caramelized.

3.  Add mushrooms and cook until liquid is just about gone.

4.  Add sage, salt and Marsala and simmer for 5 minutes.  Set aside.

5.  In a bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin, ricotta cheese, pepper, and nutmeg.  Set aside.

6.  Dip about 1/2 c of liquid from sauteed mushrooms and pour into and oiled 9 X 13 baking dish.

7.  Cover bottom layer with noodles arranged close together.  8.  Evenly spread on 1/2 the pumpkin mixture.  9.  Spoon about 1/3 of the sauteed mushrooms.  10.  Sprinkle with 1/2 of ricotta salata.  Then repeat...Add second layer of noodles, the remaining pumpkin mixture, another 1/3 of the mushrooms, and 1/2 c ricotta salata.

11.   Finish with a third layer of noodles completely moistened by the last third of the mushrooms.  Sprinkle on the last 1/2 c ricotta salata and top with grated Parmigiana Reggiano.

12.  Cover and bake at 375 for 50 minutes.  Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes, until lasagna is bubbly and noodles are tender.  Sometimes I broil the top if it's not brown enough.

13.  Let stand for ten minutes before cutting.

This is how we roll when we are tired and don't feel like making a salad.  :)  Just a massive piece on a plate and an Abita Pecan Harvest Ale...perfection.  [We also had a random storm right as it came out of the oven, so the house was darker than normal and I couldn't get the lighting right for the pictures.]

This meal is honestly so worth the time it takes to prepare.  ...and just in case you hadn't noticed, it is a vegetarian meal...perfect, since it is Vegetarian Awareness month!  :)  Let me know if you try it!!

Cupcake Friday...sort of..

Happy Cupcake Friday!  Lately, I cannot seem to have a meal without also having dessert.  Sometimes, I don't even need the meal first!  Over two years ago, I posted about a cookbook giveaway I won over at The SoHo.  I cannot tell you how much I have used that cookbook!  One of my favorite recipes found in the book is for Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes.  Since I am trying to make it feel like Fall around here, I decided this pumpkin dessert would be perfect!  I followed the recipe above exactly and baked it for a little more than 50 minutes.  It says not to overcook, but I kept checking it and thought there was no way it could possibly be done at 40 minutes...even at 50 minutes, it still didn't seem done.  After cooling for a bit, I dove into it and while really gooey, it was delicious.  It says it should be gooey, so I am assuming it was done.  Warm... it is heaven.  Cold, after being refrigerated, it is a different kind of heaven.  Either way, this recipe is so incredibly good.

Unfortunately for me, I decided to make this  while my husband was out of town.  Since I ate so much of it before he got home, I have discovered I probably ate at least a stick of butter by myself in two days.  Yikes!  In a silly attempt to hide how much I actually ate, I took the rest out of the baking dish and tried to use a biscuit cutter to make them like little cupcakes.  As you can see from the photos, they didn't turn out as pretty as I had hoped, but at least it wasn't as obvious that I ate half of the pan alone!  :)

Have a happy weekend!!