Neil Perry's Vegetable Lasagne

It has, surprisingly, been a year since my last blog post.  I have cooked dinner five out of seven days of the week for most of the past year, and have created some exciting and tasty dishes.  So I have no idea why I haven't posted.  I am also not going to give any guarantee's that this re-emergence to the blogosphere will continue, for a number of personal reasons.  But when I have the time, some inspiration, and amazing photographs, I will attempt to share with the world my culinary achievements.

Today, I will be sharing my adaptation of another Masterchef Australia recipe, Neil Perry's Vegetable Lasagne, from season 4.  This recipe sounded quite unique to me, an American used to meat, tomato, and cheese based lasagnes.  My DH, however, likes the béchamel based lasagnes better and has been asking for this recipe since it aired. I am happy to say that it did not disappoint.

Parmesan cheese sauce

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• Pinch sea salt
• Pinch freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup milk
• 0.1 lb coarsely grated parmigiano reggiano
• 1/4 cup ricotta
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Melt butter in medium saucepan, stir in flour; cook stirring for 1 minute. Add salt and pepper and gradually add milk, whisk until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, cool slightly. Add parmesan and ricotta and mix through.  Stir in egg until combined. Season to taste. Cover with a round of baking paper so a skin doesn’t form.

Assembly

• 1/3 eggplant, cut into 3 mm slices 
• pinch of sea-salt
• olive oil
• 3 small zucchini, cut into 3 mm slices
• ~5 roasted red peppers
• ~6 dried lasagne sheets
• Parmesan cheese sauce (see recipe above)

For parmesan cheese sauce:
Melt butter in medium saucepan, stir in flour; cook stirring for 1 minute. Add salt and pepper and gradually add milk, whisk until slightly thickened. Remove from heat, cool slightly. Add parmesan and ricotta and mix through. Stir in egg until combined. Season to taste. Cover with a round of baking paper so a skin doesn’t form.

For the assembly:
Place sliced eggplant in a colander, toss with sea salt and stand over a bowl to drain for 30 minutes. Rinse under cold water and pat dry. Brush both sides with a little olive oil and sear in a hot frying pan 1-2 minutes each side or until golden and tender.

Brush zucchini with a little olive oil and sear on both sides in the hot pan until zucchini is golden and tender.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease one 8x4 inch loaf pan with a little olive oil.

Assemble lasagne by place layer of eggplant in the base of prepared dish, followed by pasta. Spread pasta with parmesan cheese sauce, top with a layer of roasted capsicum, a layer of zucchini, a layer of eggplant, followed by another pasta sheet.  Repeat until ingredients are used up or you have reached to top of the pan.  Complete the stack with a final pasta sheet and layer of parmesan cheese sauce.

Cover with foil and bake at 60 minutes, or until lasagne is tender.  Serve with a tomato sauce (I used store bought vodka sauce).