*`Sometimes I layer tender, pulled chicken in between the vegetable layers. Delicious!

45ml good olive oil | |
2 large aubergines, sliced lengthwise | |
3 red peppers | |
4 cloves garlic | |
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped | |
15ml butter | |
15ml cake flour | |
300ml chicken stock | |
250ml cream | |
15ml dried origanum | |
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste | |
4 large, red, ripe tomatoes | |
12 sheets lasagne | |
150g Parmesan, grated | |
500g oven-baked, deboned and shredded chicken (optional)* |
A sumptuous and utterly delicious meal that I prefer to serve with a fresh green salad dressed with a very ‘fat’ vinaigrette – good olive oil and a little lemon juice with anchovy, tiny bits of fried pancetta, and chopped-up boiled eggs.
1. | Preheat the oven to 180°C. |
2. | Heat the olive oil in a pan, then fry the aubergines lightly. Remove the slices of aubergine and set them aside. |
3. | Slice (and deseed) the red peppers vertically, as large and flat as possible, then add the slices to the leftover oil. Fry them lightly, add the garlic and chilli, and give all the vegetables a quick stir over the heat. Remove and keep with the aubergine slices. |
4. | Melt the butter in the same pan. Stir the flour deftly into the butter and add a little of the stock. Keep stirring the sauce while adding more stock until it becomes a really rich and thick velouté, then add the cream. Add the origanum and bring the creamy sauce to a boil for 1–2 minutes before turning the heat down. Taste the sauce and season. |
5. | Slice the tomatoes in thick, generous slices. |
6. | Grease a generous-sized ovenproof dish and line the bottom with 1 layer of lasagne sheets. Follow with a layer of aubergines and some of the red peppers with garlic. Spoon a ladle of sauce over the vegetables. Follow with another layer of lasagne and a layer of tomatoes, and then sauce. Repeat until all the vegetables, lasagne sheets and sauce have been used, ending with a sauce layer. Top the dish with the Parmesan. |
7. | Bake the vegetable lasagne for 20–30 minutes until the pasta is completely cooked and the Parmesan has formed a glorious golden crust on top. |
8. | Serve with a green salad as described above. |
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