shades of summer

There was a beautiful bowl of colorful tomatoes in my kitchen and I knew I had to use them soon. And those listada di gandia eggplants were getting big enough to pick.. how about a nice little summer lasagna for the two of us? Not a gooey, dense lasagna, but a light and almost fluffy concoction: summery.

I made a quick sauce of the tomatoes with a little garlic, only partially cooking the tomato pieces to hold their shape. They were so lovely in the pan I was inspired take them outside into the midday light to snap the picture seen here. I thickened the sauce with a bit of butter and flour mashed together (the French call this beurre manié) sliced, oiled and roasted the eggplants and made a small béchamel, (or, as it is called in Italy: salsa balsamella) and tossed a little grated romano cheese in to it. I picked some basil and chopped up a handful of leaves. I browned up some hot Italian sausage.

I never cook lasagna noodles, I just soften them in hot water for about 10-15 minutes and pat dry before layering in the pan.

As with any lasagna, I started with tomato sauce on the bottom of the ceramic dish, then layered noodles, sausage , béchamel, eggplant, basil noodle and tomato sauce. Topped it with more grated cheese baked it for about an hour. I let it stand for an hour and served it with a little green salad. It was light but creamy and packed with summer flavor.