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Baked Lasagna alla Norma
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4.67 from 3 votes

Lasagna alla Norma

A delicious combination of typical Mediterranean flavours in a baked version of a traditional recipe from Sicily
Prep Time25 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour 10 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian, Sicilian, Southern Italian
Keyword: Lasagna alla Norma
Servings: 6
Calories: 424kcal
Author: Jacqui

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: 424kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 129mg | Potassium: 851mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 1440IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 299mg | Iron: 2mg