Once I noticed some mouth-watering photos of aubergine involtini i. e. you cut an aubergine lengthwise into thin slices, roast them in the oven, fill some ricotta or whatever inside & roll them up. Then the involtini are placed in a casserole w/ some tomato sauce on the bottom & grated cheese on top & baked.
I decided to give it a try. Pondering how to proceed I stumbled across some details.
How to manage to cut the aubergines lengthwise into thin, even slices? I thought that it might be better to buy one more aubergine in case of accidents …
I wasn’t so happy, but then an inspiration hit me:
Involtini meant a nice filling of ricotta incased in roasted aubergine … & tomato sauce in the background i. e. around the aubergines …
So why not roll out flat the aubergine slices? Thinking of lasagna instead of involtini?
So we start w/ some very basic ingredients. (The process of preparing seems to be complicated, but it’s easier than you might think!)
What do we need?
- aubergines
- ricotta w/ some lemon flavored oil
- an egg
- pecorino
- tomato pulp w/ cream
- an onion & some fresh garlic.
It’s enough input to create an aubergine lasagna with 3 different layers (= aubergine, ricotta, tomato).
As usual we preheat the oven (190° C fan).
We start w/ the aubergines & cut them simply into slices of about 5 – 6 mm thickness.
The aubergine slices come to rest on 2 baking sheets lined w/ baking parchment. Then we need some olive oil to brush the aubergine slices. Finally we sprinkle some salt over the aubergines.
For the next 20 – 25 min the aubergines will get roasted in the oven.
The aubergine slices are soft, but not slushy i. e. they don’t fall apart. (Keep the oven on 190° C fan!)
Aubergine slices: ready for the lasagna.
While the oven works on the aubergine slices we’ve got enough time for the other layers of our lasagna.
We fry the chopped onion w/ cloves of garlic & a bay leave in some olive oil until soft & crispy. The cloves of garlic & the bay leave are discarded.
The tomato pulp & the cream are mixed. Finally the onion mess marches into the tomato mess.
Timato mess: ready for the lasagna.
The ricotta, the lemon oil & the egg are combined.
Now the pecorino… the grated pecorino… (I hope you didn’t forget to grate the pecorino at the beginning!)
So now most of the grated pecorino marches into the ricotta mess.
Ricotta mess: ready for the lasagna.
Now we start creating the lasagna:
- 50% of the tomato mess
- 50% of the aubergine slices
- 100% of the ricotta mess
- 50% of the aubergine slices
- 50% of the tomato mess.
That’s for the input …
… into the oven … After 15 min sprinkle grated pecorino over the tomato mess (about 2 tbsp) & back into the oven at once for another 10 min (or so.)
Voilà the aubergine lasagna!
Enjoy!
- 2 aubergines (about 800 g)
- some salt
- some olive oil
- 250 g ricotta
- 1 tsp lemon flavoured oil
- 1 egg
- 50 g grated pecorino
- 1 can tomato pulp (400 g)
- 50 ml cream
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion (about 125 g)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 bay leave
- 2 tbsp grated pecorino
- Preheat the oven to 190° C fan.
- Grate the pecorino.
- Line 2 baking sheets w/ baking parchment.
- Cut the aubergines into slices of about 5 – 6 mm.
- Distribute the aubergine slices on the baking sheets & brush them w/ olive oil. Sprinkle some salt all over.
- Put the aubergines into the preheated oven for about 20 – 25 min; the aubergines should be soft & slightly brown in the end. Let them cool for some minutes.
- Don't turn off the oven, but let it stay heated up at 190° C.
- In the meantime – while the aubergines are in the oven – peel the onion & chop it.
- Start frying the onion in olive oil w/ the cloves of garlic & the bay leave for about 10 – 15 min. Add salt & pepper.
- Discard the garlic & the bay leave.
- Mix the tomato pulp & the cream. Add the sugar.
- Add onion mess to the tomato mess.
- Mix ricotta, lemon oil, grated pecorino & the egg.
- Pour or spoon about half of the tomato mess in the casserole.
- Add about half of the aubergine slices & cover the tomato mess.
- Add all of the ricotta mess & distribute evenly.
- Add rest of the aubergin slice & cover the ricotta mess.
- Add rest of the tomato mess & distribute evenly.
- Bake in the oven for about 20 – 25 min.
- After about 15 min in the oven sprinkle grated pecorino on top – and put it back in the oven for about 5 – 10 min.
