My eggplant was ready in the garden, so I had to come up with a recipe. It turned out pretty good. Creston loved it. Kerri did too and she is not an eggplant connoisseur. Kat wouldn't eat it when she dipped it, but what does she know? She didn't even taste it.
Jord’s Eggplant Lasagna
While in college, I got the opportunity to work on a design team with Mary Margaret Jones. Mary Margaret is a famous landscape architect, married to Mr. Hargraeves, an even more famous landscape architect. As part of the welcoming of Mary Margaret, Eleanor, one of my favorite architecture professors, had the team and Mary Margaret over to eat dinner. She served a lovely eggplant dish, maybe the only time I remember eating eggplant. That was back in about 2007. I grew some eggplant this year and remembered that dish, and wrote Eleanor, hoping that she would remember the dish she cooked for us 4-5 years ago. She did. She sent me the recipe, Eggplant Moussaka, from the “San Juan Classics” cookbook, and recommended picking up the cookbook if I could find it.
The Eggplant Moussaka recipe sounded a little complex, tons of ingredients, and a little refined for my country cooking skills and tastebuds. Dad and Mom came over, and I think I got their stamp of approval. So here is my simplified variation.
Meat Sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2# of extra lean hamburger
1 jar of simple spaghetti sauce
4-6 garden fresh tomatoes chopped
handful of fresh basil chopped
small handful of fresh parsley chopped
Salt & Pepper
To Prepare Meat Sauce: This is just my classic summer garden spaghetti sauce. Add a little oil to a skillet. Cook onions and garlic until soft. Add hamburger, season, and brown. Add spaghetti sauce and fresh tomatoes. Simmer until thick. Add basil and parsley just before using in lasagna
About a dozen small eggplant fruit
I believe I grew Ping Tung eggplant. It is a long skinny variety, and I used them like you would lasagna noodles. They were approximately 6-9 inches long by 1-1 1/2 inch thick. I didn’t use the older tougher fruit. I cut them length wise in about 1/2 inch slivers.
Preparing Eggplant: Cover the eggplant slivers in vegetable oil, put them on a cooking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.
The Riccotta Sauce
Preparing the Riccotta Sauce and finishing: In a medium sauce pan melt a 1/4 cup of butter and whisk in 1/4 cup of four. Warm up 2 cups of milk in the microwave, and slowly whisk them into butter and flour. Stir constantly, until thick and smooth, pull off heat when it begins to boil. Let cool slightly. I began assembling the lasagna at this point. Oil an 11x13 inch baking pan. Put a layer of meat sauce down then a layer of eggplant, repeat, and end with the remaining meatsauce on top. The Riccotta sauce should be slightly cooled at this point. Beat 3 eggs, and add slowly while mixing to the butter, flour and milk. Add 16 oz of riccotta and mix till creamy. Pour ricotta sauce on lasagna, top liberally with Parmesan cheese.
Cook at 350 degrees for 40-60 minutes.
Serve with an antipasti and bread
Kerri’s Fresh Summer Salad
Fresh sliced cukes, fresh cut tomatoes, green bell peppers, onion slivers, fresh chopped basil, garlic salt, salt, and pepper.
Add Kraft fat-free Zesty Italian salad dressing
(It is divine as is, or add a few soft mozzarella slivers)
Jord’s Eggplant Lasagna
While in college, I got the opportunity to work on a design team with Mary Margaret Jones. Mary Margaret is a famous landscape architect, married to Mr. Hargraeves, an even more famous landscape architect. As part of the welcoming of Mary Margaret, Eleanor, one of my favorite architecture professors, had the team and Mary Margaret over to eat dinner. She served a lovely eggplant dish, maybe the only time I remember eating eggplant. That was back in about 2007. I grew some eggplant this year and remembered that dish, and wrote Eleanor, hoping that she would remember the dish she cooked for us 4-5 years ago. She did. She sent me the recipe, Eggplant Moussaka, from the “San Juan Classics” cookbook, and recommended picking up the cookbook if I could find it.
The Eggplant Moussaka recipe sounded a little complex, tons of ingredients, and a little refined for my country cooking skills and tastebuds. Dad and Mom came over, and I think I got their stamp of approval. So here is my simplified variation.
Meat Sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2# of extra lean hamburger
1 jar of simple spaghetti sauce
4-6 garden fresh tomatoes chopped
handful of fresh basil chopped
small handful of fresh parsley chopped
Salt & Pepper
To Prepare Meat Sauce: This is just my classic summer garden spaghetti sauce. Add a little oil to a skillet. Cook onions and garlic until soft. Add hamburger, season, and brown. Add spaghetti sauce and fresh tomatoes. Simmer until thick. Add basil and parsley just before using in lasagna
About a dozen small eggplant fruit
I believe I grew Ping Tung eggplant. It is a long skinny variety, and I used them like you would lasagna noodles. They were approximately 6-9 inches long by 1-1 1/2 inch thick. I didn’t use the older tougher fruit. I cut them length wise in about 1/2 inch slivers.
Preparing Eggplant: Cover the eggplant slivers in vegetable oil, put them on a cooking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.
The Riccotta Sauce
Preparing the Riccotta Sauce and finishing: In a medium sauce pan melt a 1/4 cup of butter and whisk in 1/4 cup of four. Warm up 2 cups of milk in the microwave, and slowly whisk them into butter and flour. Stir constantly, until thick and smooth, pull off heat when it begins to boil. Let cool slightly. I began assembling the lasagna at this point. Oil an 11x13 inch baking pan. Put a layer of meat sauce down then a layer of eggplant, repeat, and end with the remaining meatsauce on top. The Riccotta sauce should be slightly cooled at this point. Beat 3 eggs, and add slowly while mixing to the butter, flour and milk. Add 16 oz of riccotta and mix till creamy. Pour ricotta sauce on lasagna, top liberally with Parmesan cheese.
Cook at 350 degrees for 40-60 minutes.
Serve with an antipasti and bread
Kerri’s Fresh Summer Salad
Fresh sliced cukes, fresh cut tomatoes, green bell peppers, onion slivers, fresh chopped basil, garlic salt, salt, and pepper.
Add Kraft fat-free Zesty Italian salad dressing
(It is divine as is, or add a few soft mozzarella slivers)
