First post! Hoorah! And a messy lasagna recipe . . .

I've been planning my own food-themed blog since February, as a sort of graduation present to myself. I've finally gotten around to it. Hoorah!

Today on my lunch hour, I came across this recipe on the Italian Food site at about.com. It sounded delicious, but when I got home, I wasn't so sure. I love lasagna. I love pesto. But lasagna and pesto, alone, together? hmmm. . .

Well, I like tomatoes and onions and so I made plans to add those in as well. I also had a lonely eggpant sitting in my fridge that was about to go bad. When I got home, I thinly sliced the eggplant and set it in a deep bowl. I tossed a small handful of kosher salt over the slices, filled the bowl nearly to the top with cold water, and left it on the counter for 30 minutes while I ran to the market around the corner.

Now, I know that the jury is still out on the salting/soaking of eggplant. Some people swear that salting the eggplant takes away some of the bitterness, but to be honest, I've never noticed that, and it is the slight bitterness with a touch of sweet that is characteristic of the vegetable that I enjoy about it. I have found, however, that salting and soaking eggplant for about a half an hour before cooking prevents it from soaking up too much olive oil and other liquids.

At the market, I encountered two problems. The first was expected - they didn't have Tuscan or Sardinian pecorino. (I had never realized until coming across this recipe that there were different kinds of pecorino - you learn something new everyday.) I could have run across the street to Zingerman's, I suppose, but I would have filled up on cheese instead of lasagna.

The second problem was a little more troublesome: They didn't have basil. I grabbed a couple of tomatoes, a yellow onion, a bulb of garlic, a bunch of fresh thyme, lasagna noodles, a block of unsalted butter, a block of Parmigiano-Reggiano, more olive oil (just in case - I go through about a liter a week), and a case of "mixed herb salad". There's another grocery store within walking distance, but just in case they too were out of basil, I grabbed a bag of spinach as a substitute. Good thing I did. The other store was out of basil as well.

Back at home, I drained the eggplant slices and patted them dry. I spread them out on a roasting pan grate (problem #3: no foil in the house), and brushed them with extra virgin olive oil. I've been using a Spanish olive oil that I found at Sparrow's called "Zoe", which I like a lot. It's very light and fresh and has a slightly spicy taste to it. It also "comes to you in an attractive tim which not only protects and preserves the oil, but may also be used as a decorative vase when empty." (This is from the tin itself. Kitschy!)

I peppered the eggplant and then put it under the broiler for about 7 minutes on a side. Meanwhile, I set the noodles to boil (problem #4: bad quality lasagna noodles) in a pot of salted water with a little olive oil. I chopped up the thyme and set it aside, then thinly sliced the tomatoes. When the eggplant slices were done, I set them aside on a plate and then set the tomato slices on the grate. I brushed these with olive oil, and peppered them. I put them under the broiler for 6 minutes, and then set them aside on another plate and sprinkled them with the chopped thyme and about 1 T of dried oregano. I turned the over down to 375 F. When the noodles were done, I drained them and then rinsed them with cold water. I spread them out in layers between clean, fuzz-free dish towels.

While the tomatoes were in the oven and the noodles were still boiling, I sliced the onion thinly. I melted about 2 T of unsalted butter in a pan on the stove over medium heat. I minced one large clove of garlic and, when the butter had melted, added the garlic to the pan. While the garlic was cooking in the butter, I got out the food processor for the spinach pesto. When I could smell the garlic from about five feet away, I layed the onion slices in a thin layer in the bottom of the pan and let them simmer for a few minutes while I set up the food processor. When everything was in place, I put a glass lid on the pan and turned the heat down to medium low. When the onions were translucent, about 15 min later, I turned off the heat.

I used the curly-leafed spinach in this recipe - I find that it tastes better when cooked than the flat-leaf variety, which I feel is better for salads. I rinsed enough spinach that would fill the bowl of my food processor, and put it into the food processor, with the water from the rinse clinging to the leaves. I pulsed until I got rough paste, then added two large garlic cloves, a handful of pine nuts, and more spinach - up to the top of the food processor bowl. As I pulsed this time, I drizzled in enough olive oil to make a smooth paste. I grated about 4 T of Parmigiano into the bowl, and then pulsed again. I reapeated these additions: Spinach, pine nuts, olive oil, and then pulse, until I had about 1 1/2 cups of a smooth paste. I transfered this to a bowl.

I oiled the bottom of an 8x11 casserole dish, and layed down 1 layer of noodles. I added a thin layer of the spinach pesto, and then the eggplant in one layer. On top of the eggplant, I put another layer of noodles, then a layer of tomato, and then the onions. On top of the onions, I put a layer of noodles, then a layer of paste, then a layer of tomatoes, and then added the two leftover slices of eggplant that I had. On top of this, I grated enough Parmigiano to cover. I put this in the oven until the lasagna had warmed through and the cheese had melted, about 18 minutes.

I ate the lasagna with a side of the mixed herb salad and a glass of home-made lemonade. Yum!