This recipe is not a traditional one in Italy, and I came up with it as another way to use my favorite ingredient, the eggplant. As expected, the combination of pasta, goat cheese, tomato sauce and eggplant is, as always, perfect.
Serve it as a vegetarian main course with a side of a simple green salad any time of the year or as part of the dairy buffet during Shavuot.
Eggplant and goat cheese lasagna
Course: Main course, Pastries u0026amp; BreadsCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium9
servings30
minutes55
minutes1
hour25
minutesTo make life easier, use ready for the oven lasagna noodles, available at most chain supermarkets (meaning you do not need to pre-boil them before arranging them in the pan and baking.)
INGREDIENTS
3 globe eggplants, sliced lengthwise
Kosher salt
Oil spray
1 large can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
Black pepper
Crushed chili pepper to taste
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup all purpose flour
Pinch nutmeg
3 cups hot milk
1 pack (9 oz.) dried lasagna noodles, oven ready
8 oz. fresh goat cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan
DIRECTIONS
- Peel eggplants (that’s optional, but I like to do it) and slice to ¼ inch thick slices lengthwise. Arrange in a colander and sprinkle each layer with kosher salt. Let eggplant stand in the colander over a large bowl for ½ hour as the salt will help get rid of its light bitterness. Wash under running water and dry with paper towels.
- Oven to 450 degrees. Spray 2 large baking sheets with oil. Arrange eggplant slices on baking sheets in one layer and use an oil spray or a pastry brush to brush oil on BOTH SIDES of each slice.
- Roast in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown at the bottom. Flip eggplant slices, switch baking sheets between the racks in the oven, and roast for another 10-12 minutes, until eggplant slices are golden brown on both sides. Make sure not to burn the slices, and adjust oven temperature if eggplant browns too quickly. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350.
- In a large bowl, mix crushed tomato, 2 tablespoons oil, salt to taste, black pepper, chili and minced garlic. Set aside.
- Make béchamel sauce – melt butter in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat. Mix in flour and cook while stirring constantly for a couple of minutes. Be careful not to burn the flour. Slowly add hot milk as you stir and continue to stir until the sauce thickens, which will take a few minutes. Add salt, black pepper and ground nutmeg to taste and remove from heat. Set aside.
- To construct the lasagna
- Grease a 13″ x 8″ x 3″ pan.
- Spread a ladle-full tomato sauce at the bottom.
- Put a layer of lasagna noodles, a ¼ of the tomato sauce, ⅓ of the eggplant, ⅓ of the goat cheese, ¼ of the Parmesan and ¼ of the béchamel.
- Repeat 2 more times.
- Make the top layer of lasagna noodles, tomato sauce, béchamel and sprinkle Parmesan all over.
- Spray one side of aluminum foil with oil and cover lasagna, greased side down, then bake for 25 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes longer, until noodles are fully cooked and the top is nice golden-brown in color.
- Let lasagna stand 10 min before serving.
- Keep covered in the fridge up to 4 days.
