Butternut Squash Cannelloni with Ricotta and Kale and a Lemony Sage Brown Butter Sauce

By Proud Italian Cook

 It’s that time of year when you start seeing butternut squash all over the place, it’s my favorite kind of squash so I usually always have one on hand sitting on my counter ready and waiting for me whenever I need it. I’ve made scones with butternut squash, individual lasagna, stuffed shells, gnocchi, ravioli, tossed it in salads, soups, risotto’s. I made other lasagna, sformato, tarts and even pizza with it, and I’m sure I missed a few, but never stuffed it into cannelloni, until now!

 Fresh ricotta, kale, parmesan and a little lemon zest gets mixed into the tender baked squash for a very flavorful filling.

 Try to get a hold of some good quality fresh pasta sheets, you could make your own if you like especially if your doing it for a crowd or for the holidays but this is my quick mid-week version.  I like to cut my store bought pasta sheets in half, I find the cannelloni gets too doughy otherwise. So for every sheet of pasta I can make two cannelloni.

 Spoon on a generous amount of filling then roll them up and place each one seam side down on a buttered baking dish.

When finished, spoon the nutty brown butter sage sauce that has a touch of lemon all over the cooked cannelloni, tossed together a nice salad, and dinner is ready!

Ingredients

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1 package of good quality premade pasta sheets
• 1 lb. ricotta drained of liquid
• ¼ cup of chopped cooked kale, squeezed and drained (swiss chard or spinach will also work)
• ¾ cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped and smashed
• salt and pepper to taste
• zest of 1 lemon
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• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 10 sage leaves
• juice of ½ a lemon

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds. Add squash to a parchment lined baking sheet then drizzle both halves with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast until tender and knife tip goes through easily, about 45-60 minutes. Let it cool completely then scoop out the flesh and discard the skin.
3. Add ricotta, egg, grated cheese, garlic, zest and squash into a food processor and pulse, just until mixed. You can also whip it all together by hand.
4. Add in the chopped kale little by little folding in between, just making sure the greenness of the kale doesn’t overwhelm the ricotta mixture.
5. xxxxx
6. Cook pasta sheets for 2 minutes in boiling water, then cool them in an ice water bath. Drain on tea towels.
7. xxxx
8. For assembly, cut pasta sheet in half, my package had 8 sheets so I was able to make 16 cannelloni from it. Add filling then roll up placing them seam side down on a buttered baking dish.
9. xxxx
10. For the sauce, melt butter in a sauce pan on medium until bubbly and golden brown, throw in all 10 sage leaves, let them sizzle and get crisp.
11. Take sauce off heat and squeeze in juice from ½ lemon.
12. xxxx
13. Spoon a tiny bit of sauce on top of each shell and sprinkle each with grated parmesan or romano. Loosely cover with foil and place in 400 oven until filling is cooked, around 15 minutes, remove foil spoon remaining sauce on top along with the crispy sage leaves. Place back in the oven for 5 more minutes. Remove and enjoy!