Lasagna alla Norma
A delicious combination of typical Mediterranean flavours in a baked version of a traditional recipe from Sicily
Ingredients
- 250 g lasagne pasta sheets I used fresh pasta sheets but dried with or without eggs are good too!
- 400 g tomatoes I used San Marzano
- 350 g tomato passata I used Cirio passata rustica
- 500 g eggplants I used 3 medium sized eggplants
- 2 garlic cloves peeled
- 6 basil leaves chopped
- 200 g ricotta salata or aged feta .
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Black pepper and salt to taste
For ricotta cream
- 500 g Italian ricotta
- 100 ml whole milk
- grated nutmeg to taste
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
Start by preparing the tomato sauce
- Peel the fresh tomatoes by immersing them in boiling water and then cold water and then removing the skin. Cut them in half, remove most of the pips and chop them into pieces
- Heat up some oil in a frying pan or skillet. Add the peeled cloves of garlic and let them brown a little. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 5-10 minutes until they start to soften
- Add the passata, stir well and cook for another 10 minutes. Towards the end of cooking the sauce, add the chopped basil leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the heat and keep the sauce aside
The eggplants
- Heat some oil in another frying pan. Cut the eggplants into thin slices and fry until both sides are golden. Eggplants absorb a lot of oil so you may need to add more.
- Put the ready slices onto kitchen paper to get rid of some of the oil. You can also grill or oven cook the eggplant for a slightly healthier dish.
Now prepare the ricotta cream
- Put the ricotta with the milk into a bowl. Mix with a whisk or fork to get a soft and homogeneous mixture. Add salt and pepper and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Grate the ricotta salata into a bowl and set aside.
Finish the dish
- If you are using dried pasta you will need to blanch the sheets in salted boiling water before assembling the dish. Fresh pasta doesn't need to be pre-cooked.
- Put a layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of a square or rectangular oven dish. Add a layer of pasta sheets on top of the tomato sauce
- Add another layer of tomato sauce, then a layer of ricotta cream and then a layer of eggplant slices. Sprinkle grated ricotta salata over the eggplant.
- Add another layer of pasta, then tomato sauce, then ricotta cream and then eggplant with a sprinkling of ricotta salata. Repeat. In total you will probably have 3 layers of pasta.
- Finish off with eggplant and grated ricotta salata.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about 25 minutes (maybe less if the pasta is fresh). You can check if the pasta is cooked by putting a sharp knife into it.
- Allow the lasagna to stand for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with extra grated ricotta salata if required.
Notes
You can use ready peeled tomatoes instead of fresh ones and aged feta cheese instead of ricotta salata. You will need to let the feta dry out a bit before grating it. Just pat it dry with kitchen paper and leave it to dry out at room temperature for a couple of hours
I made this dish without precooking the pasta sheets as I used homemade lasagne sheets. However it is also possible to use dried lasagne sheets and partly cook the lasagne in boiling salted water beforehand. By doing this the dish weill require less oven time. But don't let the pasta get too soft when precooking it.
Nutrition
Calories: 424kcalCarbohydrates: 49gProtein: 22gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 129mgPotassium: 851mgFiber: 6gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 1440IUVitamin C: 18mgCalcium: 299mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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SHERMAN CHEUNG says
Italian Moussaka
FP Williams says
I just cooked this recipe for dinner. It was nice but insanely rich. If I were to cook it again I would try decreasing the quantity of ricotta and increasing the amount of aubergine (as its flavour gets a bit lost in the mix).
From a practical point of view, I would point out that if you intend to use dried lasagna sheets make sure you are ready to build the lasagna immediately after blanching as they tend stick to each as they cool.
Finally, my wife did not enjoy the goat's cheese taste that came from the feta (personally I liked it as I am a goat's cheese fan), if you think that might bother you I would recommend trying to find 100% ewe's milk feta or real ricotta salata.
Jacqui says
Thanks for all your tips and comments. One way to avoid the blanched dried pasta sheets sticking together is to add a little olive oil to the water. Not too much though as the olive oil prevents the pasta from absorbing the sauce. I thought I mentioned that in the recipe, but I now see I haven't. I will do so. I love goat's cheese too but, it's true that not everyone does. However, as you say there are some types of feta made only from sheep milk. Ricotta salata is made from sheep milk so doesn't have that goat's cheese flavour. If you give this recipe another try and change the ingredient quantities do let me know how it turns out. All the best from Verona!
Michel Bonnet says
Hello Jacqueline,
Fantastic recipe of "Lasagna alla Norma". Delicious sounding.
Similar to the Greek Musaka - maybe?
Questions: How long do I blanch the dry Lasagna sheets - for ? Minutes?
Also, can the recipe be complemented with red Italian wine? somehow? somewhere?
Ricotta Salata is going to be difficult to find here in the UK. So, maybe I'll opt for Feta. (prefer not to).
In French, it is called "Mondé les Tomatoes". Nice and easy.
Thank you for all your recipes - they all sound delicious.
All the best.
Michel