Two Sheet Lasagna with Squash Bolognese and Broccoli Rabe Pesto

The Inspiration

Rolo’s feels like a perfect neighborhood restaurant…

It’s a spot where you could take your pickiest family member or your most pretentious friend and they’d both have trouble finding bad things to say. Despite being tucked away in Queens, this Ridgewood restaurant is packed through the week and has made a big name for itself (rightfully so).

The menu is filled with familiar classics intertwined with inventive but approachable dishes. The through line is their wood-fired oven that’s the heart of the restaurant. From Polenta bread to pea greens most of the menu gets slid into roaring oven.

If you’ve been to Rolo’s, then you’ve most likely tried their famous lasagna….

Classic bolognese and béchamel sandwiched between two sheets of spinach pasta and wood-fired at over 750F to reveal a charred but surprisingly tender lasagna. Its size makes it approachable and light relative to a traditional lasagna. Perfect to share or crush on your own. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.

The Approach

So I began thinking about how I could make my own variation at home. I had two giant Koginut squash (my favorite winter variety) staring at me for weeks on my kitchen counter. The natural sweetness, deep roasted flavor, and plentiful seeds made these the perfect candidate for a bolognese riff. Roasted chunks would melt into a sauce with a mirepoix, tomato paste, harissa, and red wine while diced pieces would be sautéd with its seeds, and blitzed cashews to give it texture and mimic the ground meat.

The bolognese had a natural creaminess to it that satisfied my béchamel needs so I moved on to tackle a spinach swap. I picked up some very young broccoli rabe leaves from Lani’s at the Union Square Farmer’s Market earlier in the week. I’ve made variations of a broccoli rabe pesto/sauce previously and thought the earthy and slightly bitter flavor would work well with the squash bolognese.

The biggest time investment here is the bolognese. It’s a half-day project but it leaves you a rich sauce that only gets better with age (1 or 2 days in the fridge). The recipe portion is large so you can think of it like meal prep. I threw one of the quarts I made in the freezer to be used on a future lazy Sunday.

Now if all of this sounds too ambitious, the broccoli rabe pesto comes together in no time and makes a killer weeknight pasta.

WATCH THE VIDEO - Squash Bolognese

Why you should be buying Pecorino Romano

I love Pecorino. I’m a big fan of the grassy notes of sheep’s cheese in general. It has a pronounced saltiness and punch that just hits a little harder than Parmesan. Being a younger cheese, it’s also bit softer and creamier when melted compared to parm.

It’s lactose free, big on flavor, AND cheaper than parm…. What more do you want?