October 12th Cooking Class

Every Wednesday morning I have my Contemporary Italian Cooking class & every Wednesday I say that the recipe from that day has been my favorite so far... 

So it will come as no surprise to you when I say that today, October 12th the recipe in class was SO DELICIOUS and has been my favorite ;)

We made Lasagnetta alle Melanzane, quartirolo e basilico, and for the 99% of my friends who don't speak Italian... Lasagna with eggplant, quartirolo cheese and basil. 

Here is the recipe:

300 gr (10 oz) eggplants (about half) already left 30 minutes under coarse salt to drain

60 gr (2 oz) grated Quartirolo cheese

50 gr (1 1/1 oz) grated Grana cheese

6-7 cherry tomatoes, dried in the oven

1 garlic clove

extra virgin olive oil

zucchini

a small potato

half a carrot

2-3 pieces of green celery

basil 

1 large layer of fresh pasta

 Raw Tomato Sauce: Peel 3-4 San Marzano tomatoes, take out the seeds, put them in a mixer with olive oil and salt and basil, and blend them into a sauce. See picture below :)

 

Vegetable Sauce: cook the zucchini, carrot, potato and celery in a small amount of water and a spoonful of oil on the stove. Once they are soft, put in a mixer with a small amount of cooking water, 2 spoonfuls of olive oil, 1 spoonful of Grana cheese and 5-6 basil leaves

the quartirolo cheese

Cook the layer of pasta in a large pan with salted boiling water; drain it on a cloth

The fresh pasta

Golden the garlic clove in olive oil and saute the diced eggplant, then mix in a blender. Spread the pureed eggplant on the pasta, sprinkle the both grated cheeses, distribute the chopped dried tomatoes. Roll the pasta layer and steam (or bake) them.

 the eggplant

 

Inside the lasagna, eggplant, both the cheese and a cherry tomato

Here is the finished product :) My lasagna roll, tomato sauce and vegetable puree

In class we called this "lasagna cannoli" because of there shape. It was so delicious and after eating 2 I wanted more. I'm so happy I decided to take this class not only to learn all these awesome recipes but also to eat foods that I normally would avoid. Yesterday if you had asked me if I wanted lasagna with eggplant and zucchini in it I would have turned up my nose and said 'absolutely not, I don't like those vegetables' but.. they were DELICIOUS. Being in Italy and being in this class is definitely broadening my food horizons.


 

Ciao, Erica <3