Sunshine and Olly

by Jonathan Blaustein

I turned 50 yesterday.

(You might have heard.)

I kept the celebration tight: just my wife, kids, dogs, and jiu jitsu community.

And as I don’t trust the crappy, over-priced Taos restaurants, and I enlisted Theo to cook twice over the weekend…

…I was in charge of my 50th Birthday dinner.

What to make?

Lasagne is not only a crowd-pleaser, but as it’s somewhat labor intensive, it also feels celebratory.

I did one six weeks ago, in deep Winter, with an Italian sausage sauce as the base.

Too heavy for early March.

Then the idea hit me: what about those pretty eggplants you bought?

What if?

What if I made fried eggplant, for eggplant parmesan, and then inserted it as a layer, WITHIN the lasagne?

Wouldn’t that essentially be two superstar dishes in one?

Yes.

Yes, it would.

And it was insanely delicious!

Here we go:

The fried eggplant

Wash and thinly slice one eggplant. Lightly salt and pepper the slices, then set aside. Once they sweat, (release moisture,) lightly pat down with a paper towel.

Set out three plates, one with all purpose flour, one with two beaten eggs, and the other with seasoned breadcrumbs. Then lightly season the flour and egg plates with salt and pepper.

Heat a cast iron skillet, add olive oil, and then dredge the eggplant.

First, pat it fully in flour, then coat in egg, then pat in the bread crumbs, before depositing in the hot oil skillet.

Flip each slice when it’s nice and brown, and then remove onto cutting boards or plates covered with paper towels. (To absorb the oil.)

The marinara sauce

The key here is lots of fresh vegetables, and two kinds of roasted chile.

Start by sautéing and seasoning on onion, then add in four diced cloves of garlic.

Continue to stir, and then add two sliced celery stalks, two sliced carrots, six large tomatoes on the vine, 12-15 small cherry tomatoes, and a handful of baby spinach.

One can of Cento tomatoes, four T of tomato paste, two NM roasted green chiles, one roasted poblano pepper, and then lime juice, mild paprika, sugar, honey, balsamic vinegar, white balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese, and asiago cheese.

Blend with an immersion blender, once it’s been cooking for 20 minutes, and season to your liking.

Remember though: the sauce needs to be SUPER-FLAVORFUL to stand up to the cheese and fried eggplant.

The Pasta

I used Barilla, and it was great.

The Cheese

Galbani ricotta and chunk mozzarella

The Lasagne

Time to assemble.

I cook the noodles while I’m assembling, just dropping them into salted boiling water for about 1 min or so.

So in a large casserole pan, I made a layer of sauce, then a layer of noodles.

Then a full layer of ricotta, and a light layer of sauce.

Then the eggplant layer, grated parmesan, and a light layer of sauce.

Then another layer of noodles, a thick layer of sauce, and then the grated mozzarella.

Cracked black pepper on top, a grated layer of parmesan when it comes out of the oven, (about an hour at 350-375,) and you’re set to jet.

It was ridiculously good, and all four of us ate like royalty last night, so I hope you give it a go.