When I turn off the last Christmas lights, it’s finally time to embrace the winter in the wardrobe and on the table where I welcome warm, nourishing dishes typical of this time of year, like a steaming tray of lasagna.
I made that with carasau bread, which I used instead of a traditional pasta sheet, baked pumpkin, and smoked scamorza cheese.
Carasau bread is a flatbread typical of Sardinia, and you can find it in rectangular and even round shapes. Its versatility makes it perfect for many sweet and savory recipes, not just the bread basket.
It is not the first time I have made a lasagna using carasau bread (guttiau, the one with olive oil, is also ok). The first time was during the lockdown due to COVID-19 when I also used the time to clean and order the pantry.
We have a dear Sardinian friend who returns from every trip with carasau bread, pecorino cheese, and fragrant lemons from his family garden, so I always have a supply of this bread.
Closed at home with my family, I cooked new recipes with the ingredients on hand. And since then, when I’m in the right mood for lasagna and have no time to make sfoglia, I recur to this excellent pasta sheet substitute.
Pumpkin carasau lasagna
I prepared this lasagne with pumpkin and shallots using carasau bread instead of the traditional pasta dough (sfoglia).
Carasau bread is a thin flatbread made of flour, semolina, water, salt, and yeast. Baked twice, in the end, it is super crispy. If you can’t find carasau bread, burritos are a good alternative.
In both cases, adapt bread or pasta dough to your baking tray, as you would using sheets of egg pasta dough.
It isn’t the first time I have made a lasagna with carasau bread.
During the first lockdown of this year, using the time available to tidy up the pantry, I did a few experiments making my first lasagna without pasta dough, but with carasau bread and vegetables, using the béchamel sauce that is absent in this recipe.
Baked pasta is a satisfying dish in any season and, I think, with any temperature, but it is in winter that it gives its best interpretation.
The recipe I propose has a short list of ingredients besides carasau: pumpkin, sliced and smoked scamorza cheese instead of béchamel, and Parmigiano Reggiano. I cook pumpkin in the oven with rosemary and nutmeg to enhance its taste, lightening its natural sweetness and giving it more robust notes.
The dish is simple to prepare and doesn’t take much time. Try it! Carasau lasagna with pumpkin and cheese has substance as the season demands and is balanced to the taste.
Buona cucina,
Monica
Lasagne mon amour
Carasau bread lasagna with radicchio and stracchino béchamel.
- A Bolognese lasagna recipe: Goccia d’Oro with cooked ham, mushrooms, and béchamel.
- The queen among the Italian lasagna recipes: green lasagna a la Bolognese (with ragù)
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Pumpkin and cheese carasau lasagna
Equipment
- 26x20 rectangular baking dish
Ingredients
- 800 g of whole pumpkin or 600 g of cleaned but still uncooked pulp
- 2 g of nutmeg
- 1 sprig of rosemary, washed and dried
- salt and olive oil to taste
- 200 g of carasau bread you can replace with super thin tortillas or burritos
- 350 g of sliced smoked scamorza cheese
- 80 g grated Parmigiano cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C degrees (356F)
- Cut the pumpkin into two parts and remove the skin and filaments. Cut into cubes or large matchsticks.
- Cover a large baking sheet with baking paper, grease with one tablespoon of olive oil, place the squash, and season with nutmeg, salt, and more olive oil. Mix with two spoons or your hands. Then add in the rosemary sprig cut into 2-3 parts.
- Cook in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Then set aside the pumpkin, and don't turn the oven off.
- Grease the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil and set aside.
- In a large, deep dish, pour water and a tablespoon of olive oil. Wet in the water one slice of carasau bread at a time, and on both sides.
- Cover the bottom of the pan with the moistened carasau. If it breaks, don't worry, it is ok. Smile and use the broken pieces!
- Arrange two slices of cheese on the first layer of bread, then spread the pumpkin flesh, add a pinch of salt, sprinkle with a teaspoon of Parmigiano, add two more slices of cheese, and cover with the carasau, again moistened beforehand. Repeat until you end all the ingredients or until you form a 5-layer lasagna.
- Cover the last layer of pumpkin with wet carasau bread.
- Apply light pressure on the surface with your fingertips.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan, place on the surface four scamorza slices, and bake for 20 minutes.
- Serve the lasagna warm.
Food tips
- Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for a day.
- Instead of smoked scamorza, you can use another cheese, such as provola (do not use mozzarella because it releases too much liquid).
