Lasanga

Melon’s are fantastic right now. We started with a Melon Salad with Prosciutto, Lime Juice, Cashews and Almonds. It is really refreshing. For some reason one of our cats (Polenta) loves melon and licks the interior of the rind after we have eaten the fruit.

We made a Lasagna of Eggplant, Tomato, and Basil

from Chez Panisse Cooking by Paul Bertolli with Alice Waters.

This a wonderful lasagna, full of the tastes of summer. You don’t always need meat in lasagna. That is a lesson my father never learned!

Lasagna of Eggplant, Tomato, and Basil

Chez Panisse Cooking

Paul Bertolli with Alice Waters

8 to 10 servings

I think of lasagna as a dish naturally suited to improvisation, expressing typical Italian exuberance in the kitchen. Lasagna is a comfortable, filling dish that combines pasta, sauce, and other ingredients to make a meal by itself. The possibilities for lasagna are endless. Variations might include assorted wild mushrooms set upon layers of noodles and bechamel sauce; or a stew of sliced sausages, onions, and greens, with tomato sauce; or chopped veal cooked with onions and herbs, then mixed with chopped calf's brains (which enrich and lighten the layers), spinach, and Parmesan and moistened with a Marsala-flavored bechamel. The elements that make up the layers of a lasagna must be well seasoned and each layer, particularly if there are many, must not be too thick; otherwise, the whole will be too heavy and the noodles—after all, this is pasta—will be lost.

This recipe is a light, meatless lasagna that features tomato, basil, and eggplant. It can be made a day ahead and covered and refrigerated until you are ready to finish it in the oven.

Basic Pasta

globe eggplants (3 pounds)

4 tablespoons pure olive oil

Salt and pepper

Water

1 pound mozzarella cheese

3 cups Tomato Sauce

3/4 cup loosely packed coarsely chopped fresh basil

3/8 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Make the pasta, wrap it up, and set it aside to rest for at least 45 minutes.

In the meantime, peel the eggplants and slice them into round pieces 1/4 inch thick. Brush both sides of the slices lightly with the olive oil, salt and pepper them, and place them in overlapping rows on several baking pans. Add enough water to the pans to just cover the bottom. (This creates steam, which will keep the eggplants moist and help them to cook quickly.) Cover the pans with foil and bake the eggplants for 30 minutes, until they yield easily to the tip of a knife. When the eggplant is done, pour off the liquid in the pan and allow the eggplant to cool. Press the slices gently between the palms of your hand to remove excess water (otherwise the lasagna will be soggy) and pat the slices dry with paper towels. Slice the mozzarella as thin as possible.

Roll out the pasta dough, but not too thin (several times through the next-to-last setting on the machine is about right), and cut it into roughly 5-inch squares. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and in it cook three or four squares of pasta at a time, leaving each in the water for about 45 seconds, so that it is still somewhat firm to the bite. Have a pot of cold water next to the stove. Refresh the cooked dough squares in it a moment and transfer them to a large towel spread out upon the counter. (The most efficient method to prepare the dough is to have two people involved—one cooking the pasta, the other putting the lasagna together. If you are alone, you may wish to cook the dough squares as you need them, otherwise the preparation of this dish may present a space problem.)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. To assemble the lasagna: You will need a baking pan, roughly 16 by 9-1/2 by 2 inches. Spread about 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce over the bottom of the pan. Set squares of the dough in the pan, slightly overlap­ping . Arrange eggplant slices side by side in an even layer over the dough, spoon a little sauce on each slice, sprinkle with basil and Parmesan, and top with slices of mozzarella to complete the first layer. Begin the next layer with a layer of pasta followed by sauce, then eggplant, and repeat what you did from the first layer. Repeat the second layer, to form three layers in all. To finish the top, arrange a layer of pasta, spoon lA cup of the sauce over it, sprinkle with basil and Parmesan, and cover with slices of mozzarella. Dab each slice of cheese with sauce and bake the lasagna in the oven for 50 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.