Anything is Good with Cheese and Italian Sausage

Many local families on Guam have a primary residence convenient to work, groceries, etc.  A "ranch" is a secondary location—usually family land where they garden and recreate on the weekends.  Darlene, a friend from our congregation, spends her Monday afternoons working out on her family's ranch.  She recently gifted Aaron and I with a breadfruit.

Breadfruit is usually baked on the BBQ or boiled.  It has a potato-like flavor and texture when not overly ripe.

Brian and Serina, formerly of Chuuk and now in Florida, told us once that they had made a breadfruit lasagna.  We wanted to give it a try.  Following are their instructions.  Although, my guess is that you'll have a hard time getting your hands on a breadfruit.  Besides, I'm pretty sure Garfield would not approve.

Breadfruit Lasagna

1. Wrap the breadfruit in tin foil and bake it at 475 degrees for 30 minutes for a medium size breadfruit.  If it is a large one you might bake it for as much as one hour.   It will be done when the entire skin is changed in color to an olive green and it is hot all the way through.  At this point you might have to let it cool down some or give it a cold water bath or something so that you can handle it comfortably.
2. Use a knife to peel all of the skin off of the outside.  It does not come off neatly.
3. Once peeled, slice the breadfruit in half and then in quarters lengthwise.  Cut from top to bottom from the stem.  Cut out the stem and seed area in the middle of the breadfruit.
4. Each of those quarters should now be sliced along the flat side no more than ¼" thick or so.
5. Now, in your lasagna pan, you can lay down one layer of sauce, then layer of breadfruit slices as you would lasagna noodles, then Ricotta (I always put sliced fresh basil in with the ricotta mixture), then more sauce and repeat until the top layer.
6. At the top layer you end with breadfruit, sauce and then grated mozzarella on top.  If you have a typical baking dish (2 or 2¼" deep) you will only have to bake it for about 20-25 minutes until it is hot and bubbly.

Notes:  Some people prefer it with meat sauce, not just tomato sauce.   We also find it more flavorful when we add other vegetables in along with the breadfruit in the ‘noodle’ layer (i.e. – kabocha squash, sliced egg plant, black olives, etc.)

We were pleasantly surprised with the results!  It was delicious! Even Garfield would love it!