I'm not even kidding. You won't believe the fall-ish deliciousness of this easy peasy dish. Grab your lasagna noodles and get cooking, here's how.
First, for real directions the closest I could find for this 'made up on the fly' meal was here check out Rachael Ray. That is about how I did it and provides more exact measurements. Normally my "experimental food" is just thrown together but this was such a hit The Big Man asked me to write down what I did so we can have this again. I short hand everything when I cook and use what I got, so sometimes I don't get the exact same results. Yikes!
First get your noodles going. I know that my pan takes 9 regular old lasagna noodles. Sure I shoulda made my own - but I didn't.
Next, dig around and find out what ground meat you have. I made sloppy joes the other day (no not from a can of Manwich!) and they just didn't have the same kinda oomph they normally do.. So I heated up the leftover meat and added more garlic. It was already tomato-y. Then I added nutmeg and cinnamon.
You have a lot of fresh and delicious milk, right? Drag that out and make a bechemel sauce like Marcella Hazen does it. I threw in a couple handfuls of mozzarella cheese (from the store) and then a big heap of our own cheese. Add an extra dash of nutmeg and several grinds of black pepper.
Take about half of the bechemel out of the pan. I think I made the sauce so there was about 2 1/2 or 3 cups total. Reserve half and then add some cooked, pureed pumpkin to the pan (you're cooking down pumpkins, right? have some in the fridge?) - probably a cup and a half so its nice and thick. Give a taste - does it taste like pumpkin love? If not add more pumpkin, salt, and a bit more nutmeg. Then walk out to the garden, get some fresh sage and add it, chopped, to the sauce.
Now layer it up:
1. Pour about half a cup of milk - or enough to cover the bottom of your already buttered baking dish.
2. Add noodles
3. Add the meat or meat sauce
4. More noodles
5. Now the pumpkin sauce and a bit more sage
6. Last layer of noodles
7. Now the plain bechemel sauce, more black pepper, bread crumbs, and finally a good shake of cheese.
Bake at 375*-ish while you shovel the masses into their coops, chase that last duckling around the truck at least twice, and get back inside just as the cheese is perfectly browned and the sauce is bubbling.
Serve with a big glass of wine and freshly made bread. Delish!
Happy Wednesday everyone! Now run right out, cook down a pumpkin and dive into fall food!
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