Vegetable Lasagne

I was given a pullout section from The Guardian on Pasta Recipes. The food writer Felicity Cloake creates ultimate recipes for popular Classics. This is her recipe for Vegetable Lasagne. Although it was lovely I’m not sure if it was any better than a lasagne that I might have thrown together with lots of vegetables and a cheese sauce . What I did like was that I cut it and it stayed together and didn’t fall all over the plate . And this is how Italian lasagne should be, it should hold its shape.  This the writer says is the result of leaving it to rest for at least 20 minutes before serving .  I tried blanching the dried lasagne sheets and just ended up with a load of stuck together pasta that I had to discard. So I really wouldn’t bother with that stage. It took a while to make , but on a Saturday afternoon in lockdown that was fine with me, but whether it was worth all the mess I made I’m not sure . 

Ingredients 
(Serves 6)
3 aubergines
2 red peppers
50g pine nuts
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
600g chopped tomatoes
Slug of balsamic vinegar
500g ricotta
75g pecorino romana (or parmesan or a vegetarian alternative), finely grated
12 dried lasagne sheets or 6 fresh ones
Small bunch of basil, leaves picked

Method
Heat the oven to 200C . Prick the aubergines and put the aubergines and peppers on a lightly greased baking tray and bake for about 40 minutes until charred and collapsing in on themselves. Put the pine nuts in the oven for the last five minutes to toast.

When the aubergines and peppers are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh of the aubergines and mash up any large pieces. Peel the peppers, remove the seeds and finely chop the flesh, then add to the aubergine.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the garlic for a minute or so. Add the aubergine and pepper mixture and fry for about 10 more minutes, stirring fairly frequently, until you have a thick pulp, then add the tomatoes and a generous slug of balsamic vinegar. Rinse out the tomato tins with a little water and add this to the pan as well. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes until reduced. Season to taste.

Mix the ricotta with the toasted pine nuts and about three-quarters of the pecorino. Season to taste.

If you're using dried pasta, blanch in boiling salted water for about a minute until just floppy. To assemble the lasagne, spread a quarter of the aubergine mixture in the base of a shallow oven dish (about 20cm x 25cm) and top with a few torn basil leaves and a layer of pasta, cutting it to fit if necessary. Spread with just under a quarter of the ricotta mixture and add another quarter of the aubergines, and some more basil. Repeat these layers (ricotta, aubergine, basil, pasta) twice more, finishing off with a thicker layer of ricotta. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and bake for about 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes before serving.