Fresh Vegetarian Lasagna
Here is a recipe that I love to make often using fresh sheets of lovely pasta made using the
Marcato Pasta Machine. It’s my vegetarian take on lasagne employing seasonal eggplant, semi sun-dried tomatoes, ricotta and basil. You can add lamb mince to the tomato sugo (sauce) if you don’t do vegetarian!
Ingredients List:
For the Pasta (serves 3-4):
- 140g “00” Flour
- 2 Eggs, whole free-range
- Pinch of Sea Salt
For the lasagne filling
- 700g jar of tomato passata
- 3 large eggplants, sliced lengthways (lightly salt raw eggplant prior to cooking to extract their bitterness. Simply slice eggplants lengthways, place them into a colander and sprinkle with salt. Allow to sit for 30 mins or more. Then rinse salt off and dry eggplants with paper towel to prepare for grilling).
- ½ cup olive oil
- 250g- 350g ricotta cheese
- 1 cup semi sun-dried tomatoes, cut in halve
- 1 brown onion, chopped (Optional: This ingredient was not in the original recipe, but I always love to add chopped onion to my Italian tomato sugo)
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- Salt & pepper
Instructions:
To make the Pasta:
- Place the flour in the centre of a clean smooth work surface. Make a well in the middle and break the eggs into the well. Add to the middle; sea salt.
- Using a fork, start beating the middle mixture into the flour; drawing from the inside walls of the well. As the paste thickens, continue the mixing with your hands. Add in all the flour (use a scraper to help bring all together) and begin to form into a ball of dough. If it is still sticks to your hands, add a little more flour.
- Lightly flour the work surface. Knead the dough by pressing it away from you with the heel of your hands, and then folding it over towards you. Repeat this action over and over, turning the dough as you knead. Work for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Wrap in cling wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
To Roll the Pasta using Motorised Marcato Atlas Pasta Attachment:
1. Set your Atlas 150 Pasta Maker as per its instructions to your work bench. Attach the motorised drive attachment.
2. Cut your rested dough in half and use one piece at a time. Wrap the unused piece with cling wrap to avoid drying out.
3. Set the rollers at their widest (kneading) setting – zero. Feed the dough through the rollers. Fold it in half, end to end, turn it and feed it through the rollers again, repeating the same process 6 more times. If the pasta sheet is sticky, brush with flour.
4. Turn the rollers to the next line setting – one. Feed the pasta sheet through the rollers. Dust with a little flour if it feels sticky.
5. Turn the rollers to the next line setting – two. Feed the pasta through the rollers. Continue this process until you reach the fifth line setting. You should now have a pasta dough that is smooth, fairly even and rectangular. Cut your long rectangular sheet of pasta into 30cm pieces. Lay the sheets of pasta on a lightly floured work surface or on a clean
tea towel.
6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 with the remaining pieces of pasta dough.
7. Bring a large pot of salty water to the boil.
8. Once the water comes to the boil, pour in a good drizzle of olive oil. Using a wooden spoon, swirl the water around to create a whirlpool, then drop in a few sheets of pasta at a time. The pasta is ready to drain when it thickens and rises to the top of the water. This usually will take about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving the pot of water to cook the remaining sheets of pasta. Place the sheets of cooked pasta in a rectangle deep tray and drizzle with olive oil to prevent pasta sheets sticking together.
9. Repeat step 8 until all the sheets of pasta are cooked.
To prepare and assemble to dish:
- Preheat oven to 180c.
- Heat a tblsp of olive oil to a medium size pan, add chopped onion & a pinch of salt and cook for 2 to 3 mins. Then add the garlic, stir and cook for a further 1min. Now add the jar of tomato passata with ½ cup of water. Bring to the boil, and then simmer for 10mins. Take off the heat.
- Heat a griddle pan or bbq grill or bake in an oven (175c) the eggplants to cooked through. Place eggplants on a plate.
- Take a large rectangle baking dish and cover base with enough tomato passata.
- Cover with a layer of lasagne sheets and then with just a little tomato passata.
- Tear pieces of cooked eggplant and lay over the sheets of lasagne.
- Then scatter ricotta and pieces of semi sun-dried tomato.
- Sprinkle parmesan and basil leaves to finish layer.
- Repeat the layering processes (steps 5 to 8) until 4 to 5 layers have been made.
- Finish with a layer of pasta sheet on top and spoon over remaining passata, ricotta and parmesan cheese to cover the top.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and place in oven.
- Cook for 30mins and then take off foil. Place baking dish bake in oven and cook for further 10mins or until lasagne is golden and cooked through.
Buon Appetito!
