Feeding a crowd - lost for ideas?

Within my circle of friends we often have people over for dinner. Not just one or two people, as a normal french person would do; mostly because everyone lives in such small apartments that anything over 4 people becomes spatially challenging. No, me and my friends seem to have 'large groups' of people; mostly because we have so many friends. I often get asked the question 'What can I cook?' , 'How can I feed 8 people?'

So, after some consultation and personal trial and error, I am giving you a collection of recipes that work for larger than normal numbers and are not too expensive on the pocket.  They are all recipes that I've cooked for groups of people, hence they have been tested on numerous taste testers. The good news is people are still coming back to my place to eat.

Pumpkin Lasagne for you

It's a good thing to eat seasonally but inevitably there will be a glut of one kind of vegetable or fruit and at the end of two weeks you are ready to vow that you will never eat it again.  It is pretty hard to escape the pumpkin at this time of year. That and cabbage.  Last week I headed East and made a Pumpkin lakhsa. Next week I'm planning to make Pumpkin and Ginger cupcakes but this week we ate pumpkin Italian style. I'm sure the Italians would be horrified at this deviation from the original version, but to the Italians credit the lasagne is a very versatile dish. You can make as many variations of it as there are cheeses in France. (That's a lot in case you were wondering!) 
I was talking with my girlfriends last night and not surprisingly the conversation turned to food. One of them confessed that lasagne was her comfort food and begged for the recipe.  So here it is, just for you Helene.