My friend Matthew Teague Miller sent me this recipe a while back, and I finally had a chance to devote an evening to it the other night. Generally I’m a fan of simple, basic recipes and I am, in fact, in the process of writing an eBook short cookbook called Easy-Cook Small Bowl Recipes (coming soon, fingers crossed). But every once in a while I like to dive into something more elaborate and laborious that involves a lot of chopping and stirring and where I can use every single pot and pan in my entire kitchen. And, you know, really make an evening out of it. It’s on evenings like this that I wish I could handle smoking pot. But I can’t, so, I eat my feelings instead.
Anyway, for those of you who asked me for the recipe on Instagram, here it is, again, thanks to Matthew. I must note that Matthew’s original recipe was for a butternut squash lasagna. I have a deep aversion to cutting butternut squash, so instead of slicing it into impossibly perfect lasagna-sized strips and losing a thumb in the process, I bought the pre-cubed kind at the hole. Therefore, it’s really more of a casserole.
Ingredients
- 2 containers of pre-cubed butternut squash, or 2 squashes, cubed
- EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil, preferably from my friend Abbie’s company, Sorelle Paradiso)
- Fresh chopped sage, thyme and oregano—or dried, if that’s too ambitious
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- a tiny pinch of red pepper flakes
- a head of broccoli rabe with leaves, chopped and rinsed
- 3 T white flour
- 3 T Kerrygold Irish butter
- 1 ½ c whole milk at room temperature (important)
- 3 c grated cheese in some combination of Fontina, Pecorino, Romano, Asiago and Parmesan—with Fontina being the one you don’t want to skip. Make sure you use at least a half cup of Fontina. The others are more interchangeable.
- 1 pint of ricotta
- ground nutmeg
- salt & pepper
- Note that Matthew recommends a can of chestnuts, which, although I love chestnuts, I did not buy because they are really expensive. But I bet that would be good.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice squash into 1/8 or 1/4 inch slices. Even if you buy it cubed, still slice it thinner.
- Lightly coat large baking pan with EVOO. Arrange slices of squash in a single layer on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and season with salt. Bake for 10 minutes. Squash should not be thoroughly cooked, just slightly glisteny.
- Meanwhile, mix together the ricotta, egg, 1 minced garlic clove and the oregano. Set aside.
- With a medium saute pan, heat tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add remaining garlic and saute until aromatic, and then add crushed red pepper. Add the broccoli rabe and cook until just wilted (but still bright green). Pour the broccoli into a colander and squeeze it with the back of a wooden ladle or something to get the moisture out so it doesn’t make your casserole runny later.
- Make a béchamel sauce: Using the same sauce pan, which is now seasoned, melt butter over low heat, add chopped sage and thyme, and cook for a minute. Slowly whisk in the flour to create a thick base, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes. [Matthew says this is the time to add the chopped canned chestnuts. If you’re doing so, he says to blend them into a paste and then add them to the pan. Damn, that sounds good.] Stir in the nutmeg. Then, slowly add the milk, a little bit at a time, constantly whisking, until the sauce is lightly simmering but not scorched. (I notice that recipes that call for cooking milk are usually like “Whatever you do on this earth, don’t let your milk scorch!” I don’t know why. I don’t want to find out.) Season the béchamel with salt and pepper.
- Now it’s time to put it all together. Using a 10×14” Pyrex pan or, in my case, a large cast iron skillet and several small ramekins, go in this order:
- Squash
- Broccoli rabe/ricotta mixture
- Béchamel
- Grated Cheeses
- Bake for 35-40 minutes.
