A Different Lasagna

Vegetarian Four Cheese Lasagna

Prep Time:	15m
Cook Time:	1h
Ready in:	1h 15m
Yield:	1 - 9x13 dish

Ingredients

2 cups peeled and diced pumpkin or butternut squash (to save time, I used 2 cups canned pumpkin, but am excited to try it with the squash when it's in season) 1 eggplant, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds 5 tomatoes (Or two cans diced tomatoes, time saver) 1 pint ricotta cheese 9 ounces crumbled feta cheese (I only had 4oz and it was plenty of flavor) 2/3 cup pesto 2 eggs, beaten salt and pepper to taste 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce (Or your favorite spaghetti sauce) fresh pasta sheets (I used no-boil lasagna noodles, but they were a bit thin for the consistency of the dish so I would recommend sticking with traditional noodles) 1 1/3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place pumpkin on a baking sheet and roast in oven until browned and tender, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, fry eggplant in a skillet with some olive oil, salt and pepper, turning once, until charred and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Halve tomatoes and place on baking sheet in oven for last 15 minutes of pumpkin time; cook until tender and wrinkly.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together ricotta, feta, pesto, eggs, salt and pepper until well mixed. Fold roasted pumpkin into ricotta mixture.
4. Spoon half of the tomato sauce into a 9x13 baking dish. Lay two (or as many regular lasagna sheets as you need) pasta sheets over the sauce. Arrange a single layer of eggplant slices over pasta and top with half the ricotta mixture. Cover with two more pasta sheets. Arrange the roasted tomatoes evenly over the sheets and spoon the remaining half the ricotta mixture over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella. Top with remaining two sheets of pasta. Pour remaining tomato sauce over all and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.
5. Bake in preheated oven 30 to 40 minutes, until golden and bubbly.

I really like eggplant and would even consider doing a second layer of it, but I also think a layer of zucchini would be good, I'm just not sure about the water content. I found this surprisingly yummy! I wasn't sure how all the flavors (pumpkin, tomato, eggplant, pesto, etc.) would combine, but it was really good. My kids gobbled it up and asked for more! I think the abundance of cheese helped with that too :o) Using the time-saving cans of pumpkin and tomatoes, this was actually rather quick to prepare although I think the chunks of pumpkin/squash would add another nice texture to the dish.