Get a head start on this by prepping the squash the night before. The filling and sauce can also be prepared a day in advance. Don’t let all the steps scare you, it sounds like a lot more work than it actually is.

Sun Oven Squash and Hazelnut Lasagne

(Adapted for the Sun Oven from Gourmet magazine)

Ingredients

For Squash Filling

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 large onion, chopped

3 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

4 teaspoons fresh sage, chopped

1 cup hazelnuts

For Sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

5 cups milk

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

For Assembling Lasagne

2 cups fresh mozzarella, grated

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

12 sheets no-boil lasagne

Preparation

Set Sun Oven out to preheat.

Spread the hazelnuts out in one layer on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the Sun Oven 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly colored and skins are blistered. Wrap hazelnuts in a kitchen towel and let steam 1 minute. Rub hazelnuts in towel to remove loose skins (not all the skin will come off) and cool completely. Roughly chop nuts.

Make Filling

Place butter in a pot large enough to hold the onions and squash. Put the pot in the Sun Oven to melt the butter, 3 to 5 minutes. Add onions, stir to coat. Cover and cook until softened, 20 to 30 minutes. Add squash, garlic, salt, and white pepper. Cover and cook until squash is tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from the Sun Oven and stir in parsley, sage, and nuts. Let cool.

Make Sauce while the filling is cooking. Heat butter and garlic in a 3-quart heavy sauce pan over medium-low heat, cook garlic, stirring about 1 minute. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking, 3 minutes. Add the milk in a steady stream, whisking. Add the bay leaf and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, about 10 minutes. whisk in salt and white pepper and remove from heat. Discard bay leaf. (If not using immediately cover the surface of the sauce with wax paper.)

Assemble lasagne:

Toss cheeses together. Spread 1/2 cup sauce in a buttered 11- by 8- by 2-inch baking dish and cover with 3 pasta sheets. Cover with 2/3 cup sauce and one third of the filling, then sprinkle with a heaping 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat layering 2 more times, beginning with pasta sheets and ending with cheese. Top with remaining 3 pasta sheets, remaining sauce, and remaining cheese.

Cover with buttered aluminum foil and a dark tea towel or a silicone baking lid. Bake in Sun Oven 45 minutes to 1 hour. Take out of Sun Oven, remove foil and let stand 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

This is another recipe from Weight Watchers. The lightened up béchamel sauce uses cornstarch to add body without adding as much fat. It’s an acceptable substitution (not to mention that it’s much easier to make) if you want to cut back on calories. If not go ahead and use the real thing; butter and all.

Sun Oven Asparagus Lasagna

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

2 cups low-fat milk

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter

3/4 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

8 no-boil lasagna noodles

1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

Preparation

Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat. Spray a 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.

Bring 3 cups of water to boil in a sauce pan. Add the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.

Whisk together the milk, cornstarch, flour, butter, salt, and pepper in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce thickens and comes to a boil, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the green onions and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese.

Spread 1/4 of the sauce into the prepared baking dish; top with 2 lasagna noodles, then spread 1/3 of the ricotta and 1/3 of the asparagus over the noodles. Repeat the layers two times with the sauce, noodles, ricotta, and asparagus. End with the last 2 noodles and the remaining sauce. Cover the dish with tin foil then cover with a dark tea towel and bake the lasagna in the Sun Oven until heated through and noodles are soft. Remove the tea towel and the foil, sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese and bake until the cheese is bubbling, about 2o minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

As good as last Sunday’s pasta was, I still prefer that particular dish when it’s prepared the traditional way, so I spent the next few days searching for recipes that used similar ingredients but were more adaptable to solar cooking. I found one on epicurious.com, Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Torta, that consisted of layers of crespelle (an Italian version of  crepes), bechamel sauce, rapini, and sausage.

The crespelle were way too much work and I didn’t like the idea of a butter based sauce (bechamel) combined with the other ingredients. I decided to make up something of my own. I used no-boil, whole-wheat lasagna noodles and made an olive oil based bechamel.

I think I’m on the right track, but as you can see in the picture I was a little short on sauce. The top noodles were too dry and I had to throw them away.

Once I get the quantities right this will probably be put on our dinner rotation. It makes a satisfying one dish meal and the leftovers are good for an easy to reheat lunch. And, of course, when I have those quantities I’ll post the recipe here.

This lasagna can be as easy or as labor intensive as you want it to be. The pesto and tomato sauce can be purchased or homemade. I like using my solar roasted tomatoes (click here for recipe) but a chunky store-bought sauce works just fine. I much prefer homemade pesto to the commercial kind, but again, if pressed for time, go with high-quality store-bought.

Ingredients

3 cups ricotta cheese

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 lage egg, beaten

2 10-oz packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry

1 7-0z package prepared, or 3/4 cup homemade

4 cups purchased chunky tomato sauce or chopped solar roasted tomatoes (from about 3 pounds fresh tomatoes)

12 no-boil whole-wheat lasagna noodles

1 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation

Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat

Mix together ricotta, parmesan, egg in a large bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir spinach and pesto into the cheese mixture. Spread 3/4 cup of the the tomato sauce on the bottom of a 11 x 7 x 2-inch baking dish. Arrange three lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Top noodles with more tomato sauce then the cheese and spinach mixture. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Top last layer of noodles with tomato sauce. Place baking dish in a large oven bag and bake in GSO until noodles are soft, about 1 hour. Cut bag open and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of lasagna. Continue baking until the cheese has melted, about 10 minutes. Let lasagna rest 10 minutes before serving.

makes 6 to 8 servings