michelle picker cooks

A delicious layering of roast vegetables, pasta and fresh ricotta with napoli sauce and grated pecorino.

For this lasagna I used eggplant (aubergine), pumpkin, onions, peppers, zucchini and  fennel. Whichever vegetables you choose, cut them into thin slices and lay them on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and bake in a moderate to hot oven until just cooked. Meanwhile take 2-3 cans of diced tomato and place them in a saucepan with some olive oil and 2-3 cloves of minced garlic. Bring this to a simmer and allow to cook, covered, for approximately 20 minutes. Now the lasagna is ready to be assembled. First, lay lasagna sheets over the bottom of your baking dish and cover with some tomato sauce. My first layer was slices of eggplant followed by more pasta and tomato. The next layer should be ricotta. Just slice the fresh ricotta and spread it over the pasta, sprinkling with grated pecorino. Another layer of pasta and tomato and my next layer was fennel and zucchini. Repeat the ricotta layer and then one more layer of vegetables – mine was pumpkin, onions and peppers. The final sheets of pasta go over the top, well covered with tomato and topped with a good melting cheese such as Colby or Mozarella as well as pecorino. Bake in a moderate oven for approximately 45 minutes until golden and bubbling.