I’m sure you’ve seen all of the recipes of aubergine & zucchini lasagna on Pinterest, and partially seduced and partially inspired by the lovely mouthwatering pictures online, I decided to try a version of my own, just to test if it is as tasty as it looks.

The verdict?  Let’s first make this alternative to a traditional lasagna.

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, cut finely
• 1 can of tomato ‘Passata’ – the brand I use is an Italian brand, and still contains chunks of tomato rather than being a smooth tomato sauce
• 1 small aubergine
• 1 zucchine, of same height of the aubergine
• 2 tablespoons of cooking cream
• approx 50gr grated cheese – the one I had was a mix of Emmental, Cheddar & Mozzarella
• pepper, salt, basil, thyme, bay leave and rosemary to taste

Method:

Place the onion and garlic in a deep saucepan on a medium heat and fry till translucent. Then add the tomato ‘Passata’ and season with the herbs to taste. Leave to simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally until you reach the desired thickness in the sauce.  Then set aside.

Onions & Garlic

Whilst your sauce is simmering away, wash and dry the zucchini and the aubergine, and slice into slices of 0.5cm thick. If you have a mandolin, this may be easier then using a regular knife (like I did).

Heat up a griddle pan until it is really really hot and grill the zucchini and aubergine slices whilst pressing them down. This will both grill the vegetables and reduce the amount of water in them. Alternatively, you can also sprinkle each side of the vegetable slices with salt, and leave for approx. 30 to 45 minutes. The salt will draw out the water.  Pat dry with plenty of paper towel so most of the moisture is out.

Now it’s time to pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.  I made my lasagna in a 10cm wide ramekin, to make individual portions.

First put a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the ramekin.  Add 2 slices of grilled aubergine in a cross shape, overlapping one another and add a little more tomato sauce. Then fold the aubergine in and add on 2 slices of zucchini.  Now here add on half of the grated cheese and the 2 tablespoons of cooking cream. Fold in the zucchini and the remaining cheese.

Tomato sauce as a base layer

adding aubergine

zucchini, cheese and cooking cream

folding the zucchini over

Cook for 20 – 30 minutes in the oven and serve boiling hot.

Before the oven…..

…. and 20-25 minutes later

So the verdict?

I loved it – Rich in flavour, tomato-ey, cheesy and anything you’d expect from a steaming hot lasagna….  Being a pasta lover, I did not miss the pasta at all, having replaced the pasta sheets by layers of aubergine and zucchini. It was also equally filling as normal pasta.  I’ll definitely will make this again!