I’ve been thinking about individual lasagnas for a long time because everyone loves the crispy and burnt corner piece and if lasagnas were baked in little dishes, they’d be crispy and burnt all around. So, that’s what I was going for. I also had some butternut squash, arugula and prosciutto on hand, so I opted for more of a non-traditional lasagna.

When I took them out of the oven, I was afraid I had over-crisped them and they would be way too difficult to eat. They were super crispy, but I kind of loved them that way. The top layer of the pasta was crisp and chewy like a cracker, and the insides were sweet and salty and sturdy. Now I really want to try it out with more traditional ricotta, red meat sauce and mozzarella lasagnas. Maybe next week.

Rustic, Crispy Mini Lasagnas with Butternut Squash, Arugula & Prosciutto

1 box Whole Wheat, Oven-Ready Lasagna (I like Gia Russa)
16 oz. frozen, cubed butternut squash
12 slices prosciutto
12 oz. baby arugula
Juice of 1 lemon (preferably a Meyer lemon)
1/3 cup buttermilk (or the same amount of plain yogurt)
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 pinch salt
4 oz. Parmesan cheese chunks (shredded or grated would work too)
20 sage leaves

Preheat oven to 400° and grease 4 individual baking dishes. Slice the prosciutto into bite-sized pieces and brown it by sauteeing for a bit to release the smokiness, or by placing the pieces on a cookie sheet under the broiler for 5 - 10 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the frozen squash according to the package instructions — I microwaved mine because I wanted them to retain a lot of their water content. Place the squash in a bowl along with the prosciutto pieces, arugula, lemon, buttermilk, salt and pepper and mix until everything is evenly combined. This will be your lasagna stuffing.

Assemble the lasagnas by spreading a few spoonfuls of the stuffing onto the bottom of each baking dish to form a thin coat. Layer with a piece of uncooked lasagna and repeat until you run out of stuffing. Top everything with a piece of lasagna and then sprinkle with Parmesan. Finally, place 5 sage leaves on each of the lasagnas and cover them loosely with foil. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes.