I've spoken before of my family's day-after-Thanksgiving tradition. All-in-all, the Bracey family's Thanksgiving agenda is not-to-be-messed-with, and for good reason: it works, producing relaxing Thanksgivings year after year. Also, it's probably the only occasion I have all year to eat waffles, so I relish it. But this year, we bucked a few trends. Namely, I made dinner.

See, two weeks before Thanksgiving a friend of Scheidt's had a bunch of us over for lasagna made with fresh pasta. I hadn't used my pasta maker in some time, and I got jealous inspired. I found out that there were no concrete day-after-Thanksgiving feast plans, and suggested that maybe, just maybe, I could bring some lasagna. Despite the fact that this offer was made purely for self-serving purposes (excuse to use pasta maker), the family accepted.

Win!

Naturally, I didn't want to keep it easy and buy the noodles in a box. I also didn't want to make a traditional meat-and-cheese lasagna (although I cranked out one of those, too, just to be safe*). No, a major family meal is an opportunity to experiment recklessly with new recipes, and I was not going to miss my chance.

I fell in love at first sight, many months ago, with a lasagna-construction method that uses multiple layers of transparent-thin fresh pasta sheets. It's a construction I like to call "millefeuille," after the French thousand-layer pastry that we call a Napoleon. And I also felt somewhat driven to evangelize my love of butternut squash and seasonal eating, so I was happy when my Delicious bookmarks rendered this recipe that highlights autumnal flavors of squash, greens and mushrooms. It seemed like a mash-up of these two recipes would be a match made in heaven - layers of brightly-colored veggies separated by almost-transparent pasta and glued together with fresh cheeses.


In the interest of full disclosure, one caveat: this dish does take several hours to prepare. There are four separate fillings to make, plus the pasta if you are hard-core, and you need probably 20 minutes to assemble and another 90 to bake and rest. But it is so worth it.

Millefeuille Autumn Lasagna
A mash-up of this and this

Olive oil (several times)
Two medium butternut squash, peeled and cut to half-inch cubes
Fresh nutmeg or 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound cremini mushrooms
1 large yellow onion (softball size!)
1 very large bunch Swiss chard - 5-6 big leaves, stems removed, chopped to bite-sized pieces
Leaves from 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
4 cups ricotta
3-4 cups mozzarella, shredded
2 cups parmesan, grated
2 eggs
One recipe fresh pasta dough - here's a goodie

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Toss cubed butternut squash with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Grate nutmeg over the squash lightly, or toss in ground nutmeg. Roast squash 20-30 minutes, tossing once, until tender and golden. Puree in a food processor until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.**

In a very large skillet, brown the sausage. While the sausage is cooking, use a food process to mince the mushrooms (yes, all of them). Do not over-process into a paste! You will get a very large pile of mushroom mince. Once the sausage is cooked through, remove it to a bowl, breaking large sausage clumps into smaller pieces. Add the butter to the skillet with the rendered sausage fat. Add the mushrooms and thyme and cook for 3-5 minutes, until mushrooms are fragrant and have absorbed all the fat. Mix the mushrooms into the sausage. Season the mushroom-sausage mix to taste with salt and pepper, then refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.*** Add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the chopped chard and stir/toss until chard has wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then refrigerate until ready to use.

When you are ready to assemble your lasagna:
Combine ricotta, 2 cups mozzarella, 1 1/2 cups parmesan and eggs in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Arrange your workstation with: a deep-dish lasagna pan, your pasta roller ready-to-use, your big bowl of cheese and your three fillings. Prepare the dish by spreading 1/5 of the cheese mixture on the bottom.

I like to put my rolled noodles directly into the dish rather than preparing them all at once. You will roll your pasta to the thinnest possible setting - mine goes all the way to nine without ripping. Cut the pasta to fit in your pan, completely covering the layer of filling beneath. Depending on the depth of your dish, you may have a little pasta left over.

Layer as follows, from bottom to top, with pasta between each layer:
1. 1/2 of butternut squash
2. 1/2 of mushrooms and sausage
3. 1/4 of cheese
4. 1/2 of chard and onions
5. Remaining butternut squash
6. 1/4 of cheese
7. Remaining mushrooms and sausage
8. Remaining chard and onions

Top the last noodle with the remaining 1/4 of the cheese mixture, then sprinkle 1-2 cups of mozzarella and the remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan. You can freeze the assembled dish now, uncooked, or go straight to cooking.

To cook, heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake (thawed) lasagna 30 minutes covered, then 30-45 minutes uncovered until heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

*And as it happens, the traditional lasagna did not turn out nearly so well. I rolled the noodles too thin to support the weight of the cheese, and the darn things literally disappeared. It was ricotta and ragu soup with errant shreds of eggy fresh pasta.
**Turn off the oven unless you are doing this marathon-style.
***If you try to make this dish without washing dishes, you will need to own a bunch of large skillets!