Butternut Spinach Rolls

Yup, more butternut squash!! The one i cooked up Sunday was HUGE, so I still had ~3c of puree left. I also had an open package of whole wheat lasagna noodles that I moved from Philly, so I decided it was about time they got used. I've probably seen this many different ways (almost threw in an "oodles of noodles" there), but I just flew by the seat of my pants on this one.

butternut-spinach-ricotta filling

Butternut Spinach Rolls (my creation)
with a Goat Cheese Sauce from Cooking Light

For the filling:
3c butternut squash flesh
1c fat-free ricotta
cinnamon, nutmeg, s/p to taste
1 pkg baby spinach (mine was 6oz), sauteed in ~1T EVOO and 1-2 cloves of garlic
(next time i'd add some shallots or other onions to the spinach mix)

1 pkg whole wheat lasagna noodles (or desired noodles)

For the sauce: (might want to do 1.5 batch if you like alot of sauce)
1T butter
2T flour
1 1/2c FF milk
1/4c water or chicken broth
2oz goat cheese
2T parm
1/4t salt
1/8t pepper
1/8t nutmeg

Mix together squash, ricotta, spinach, and spices. Taste and adjust seasonings, then set aside. (Can be done ahead of time)

Preheat oven to 350deg. Cook lasagna noodles al dente, rinse with warm water to prevent sticking.

Lay out the noodles on a plate or dish, add filling along the noodles, and roll them up. As for the amounts here, I unfortunately didn't measure. It was a good amount of filling, I just kept it towards the center-- it spread when I rolled them up. Place them in a baking dish with the seam either towards the bottom or edge of the dish to prevent unrolling. (This can also be done ahead of time, just refrigerate the rolls until you want to make the sauce and cook. Just make sure to take them out for a bit so the dish isn't too cold when it goes into the oven.)

Now to the sauce. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly with a whisk. Gradually add 1/4 cup water/broth and milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook until mixture thickens (about 4 minutes). Remove from heat. Add the goat cheese, 2 tablespoons Parmesan, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and1/8 teaspoon pepper, and stir until cheese melts.

Pour sauce over assembled rolls (could add some extra grated parm on top) and bake in preheated oven ~20min or so, then dig in!!

assembled rolls

Couple more notes: I did this over a couple of days so it really seemed managable (I noted the steps where it could be done). I made the full amount of the filling, but only had 7 noodles, so I have filling leftover that I'm thinking would be awesome tossed with pasta--nice and creamy!! But I think this would work for a full lasagna-worth of rolls. I felt it needed a little something, maybe a little more kick in the filling? But very tasty :) Sorry for the lack of cross-section photo, I tried, none of themwere in focus...

right from the oven!