by Karen Swan

My four year old has recently decided that unless his meal contains both Milo and a banana, he’s not eating.  We’ve all been there, right?  “Here darling, try this yummy banana & Milo milkshake for a little treat this afternoon.”

BOOM!  All other foods cease to exist.

Until I made this.

Thankfully Mr Banana Milo decided that is was acceptable dinner fare and cleaned his plate.  I had run out of pastry flour so I couldn’t make my own pasta.  I found some GF dry lasagne sheets in the back of the pantry and lightly boiled them until they were just soft enough to roll.  It was  a right pain, so may I suggest planning ahead and either making a batch of GF pasta to slice into strips and then roll the filling, or, find some fresh GF lasagne sheets.

Ingredients:

(serves 4-6)

250g ricotta cheese

1 egg

About half a butternut pumpkin – peeled, cooked and mashed (around 1 cup)

1 cup shredded baby spinach

1 cup mozzarella cheese (plus extra for sprinkling)

Pecorino or Parmesan cheese – grated for sprinkling.

1 batch GF pasta (or 12 GF lasagne sheets – parboiled until just soft)

1 cup tomato pasta sauce

Salt and Pepper

Method:

If using dry pasta sheets; lightly boil until soft enough to roll.

If making your own, follow the recipe up to the rolling out, then cut into 12 rectangular sheets.

In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, mozzarella, egg, salt & pepper, cooked and cooled pumpkin and shredded spinach.

Put a full tablespoon of the mix onto the bottom edge of the pasta and roll.

Lay in a baking dish until full.

Cover with the sauce (don’t drown it!) and sprinkle with extra cheese.

Bake, covered, in a pre-heated 180 degree oven for 25 minutes, then uncovered for a further 20 – or until the pasta is cooked and the cheese browned.

If using fresh pasta, reduce the cooking time by about 15-20 minutes.

This dish can be frozen either cooked or uncooked.