This recipe combines two of my favorite types of food to eat. Italian and Mexican. This take on lasagna combines the smokey, spicy flavor of chipotle peppers, tangy flavor of tomatillos and the slightly sweet flavor of pumpkin together for one amazing dish.
The spiciness level of this lasagna was just right for me. If your heat tolerance is lower or you have kids, you may want to cut back on the amount of chipotle peppers. Me, I say the spicier the better.
I used the Herdez brand of Salsa Verde for the first time with this recipe, and I liked the flavor of it better than some of the other tomatillo based salsas I’ve tried. If you already have a favorite tomatillo salsa, then you can certainly use that instead.
What you will need:
No-boil lasagna sheets ( I used whole-wheat), 1 (15 oz.) can of 100% pure pumpkin, salsa verde (such as Herdez brand) chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, ground cumin, mild cheddar cheese, ricotta cheese ( I used the whole milk kind), can of chopped black olives, a small red onion, fresh garlic, salt, and olive oil.
First, chop the red onion.
Heat a couple of teaspoons of olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
Throw in the red onions. Cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pour in 1 1/4 cups of the salsa verde ( or tomatillo salsa). Let simmer for about 5-6 minutes.
While that is cooking, prepare the fillings.
Finely chop 3 chipotle peppers (forgot to take a picture). Chipotle peppers can vary in size – you are basically looking to get about two tablespoons of chopped peppers.
Scoop the pumpkin puree into a medium sized bowl. Add in the chopped black olives, one teaspoon of ground cumin, half of the finely chopped chipotle peppers plus 1 tablespoon of adobo sauce.
Grate two cloves of garlic into the bowl (you can just finely mince them if you prefer).
Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Next, add 3/4 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese.
Stir to combine.
In another small bowl, add 1 cup of ricotta cheese ( I used whole milk ricotta because that’s all the store had, but you can use part-skim if you want to), the other half of the chopped chipotle peppers plus one tablespoon of the adobo sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin.
Grate one clove of garlic into the bowl (once again, you can just finely mince them if you prefer).
Next, add in 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.
Add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and stir to combine.
Grab an 8 x 8 baking dish.
Spread a thin layer of the salsa verde (about 1/2 a cup) into the bottom of the dish.
Layer two lasagna sheets over the sauce.
Evenly spread a layer of half the pumpkin mixture.
Place another layer of lasagna sheets on top.
Evenly spread a layer of all the ricotta mixture.
Next, add another layer of lasagna sheets.
Evenly spread the remaining pumpkin mixture on top.
Spread the remaining salsa verde on top.
Top with the rest of the cheddar cheese.
Cover with foil and bake covered for 45 minutes. Remove foil, and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes.
Remove from oven, and let sit for 10-15 minutes before cutting into it. Serves four hungry people.
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