Sweet Potato Lasagna with Spinach, Ricotta & Pumpkinseeds (GF)

Lasagna is a traditional Italian dish. If you make any suggestions for how to change this well-protected recipe, you will earn curious looks. Now let me shock the Italian’s system with this: a sweet potato lasagna. Am I taking it a little too far with my love for sweet potatoes? Maybe, but it’s 100% worth it. No wheat, no pasta sheets, no eggs, no minced meat, just our favourite orange root vegetable. I served this lasagna to a bunch of people who love the traditional kind. Did they come back for second servings? Have a guess.

these potatoes are truly sweet

This starchy, root vegetable is not a regular potato, no, it is a sweet one! As you could maybe already tell from its vast orange colour, sweet potatoes are very rich in antioxidant beta-carotene, which is transformed into vitamin A by your body. Vitamin A is great for your eye health, skin repairment and healthy functioning of your white blood cells that play a crucial role in your immunity. Compared to regular potatoes, sweet potatoes are only minimally lower in carbohydrates (~24% in 100g as opposed to 37%). However, they provide us with steady, slow-burning energy as well as a carb-variety – let’s keep it diverse. Sweet potatoes are also a good source of fiber which supports your digestion and creates a long-lasting feeling of being full. They contain a good variety of vitamins other than vitamin A (such as B vitamins and vitamin C) as well as minerals including iron, selenium and calcium. Per 100g, sweet potatoes contain about 4.2% sugar, which makes them rather sweet in taste. To me, that’s just a bonus because it means that I can put them into sweet treats as well, such as sweet potato brownies which I will soon post about so stay tuned! Right, are you guys ready to cook? Because I sure as hell am!

Prep Time: 20 min

Cooking Time: 50 min

Total Time: 70 min

Servings: 4

For this recipe you will need:

1 sweet potato

300g ricotta

300g fresh or frozen spinach

2 red onions

3 cloves of garlic

50g pumpkin seeds

70g parmesan, grated

1 tbsp rosemary

1 tbsp thyme

olive oil for drizzling

salt and pepper to taste

some salad to serve 

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC.
2. Finely mince the onions, garlic and fry them in a pan with some olive oil. Add the rosemary, thyme and pumpkin seeds to the pan. Wash the spinach, roughly chop it and sautee it along with the onions. Lastly, add the ricotta and stir well so that all is well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Skin the sweet potato and with a peeler, cut into very thin slices.
4. Grease an oven dish with some olive oil and cover the bottom with a layer of sweet potato slices. Top with the spinach-ricotta filling as well as some grated parmesan. Repeat this process until no ingredients are left – you will end up with 4-5 layers. When the last layer is finished, generously top the lasagna with grated parmesan – now we’re talking.
5. Bake the lasagna in the oven for 40 minutes, serve along with a few salad greens and be proud of yourself for trying a new recipe today!