After an amazing two weeks travelling to New York, The Hamptons, Washington and Chicago with Strange Talk, I happily came home to my wonderful fiance Deanna, and a garden full of fresh vegetables. Zucchinis the size of your arms had grown in the backyard along with a variety of grape and heirloom tomatoes. Inspired by this fresh produce, the fact I had been eating boy meals for two weeks straight, a.k.a a ton of meat and beer, I felt like making a vegetarian lasagne sans pasta.
This recipe was done on the fly, and had spectacular results largely due to how wonderful freshly picked vegetables taste, and the richness of the goats cheese I used. To make this, I got out a Le Creuset small oval baking dish, which fed two, with a lot of left overs.
1 to 2 Large Zucchini cut into rectangular thin strips to fit the baking dish
1 Eggplant cut into rectangular thin strips
4 Portabello mushrooms quartered, stems removed
1 Large Brown Onion
6 Cloves of Garlic, minced
20 Diced Fresh Grape Tomatoes Yellow and Red
4 Heirloom Tomatoes
1 Fresh Chili, minced
Bunch of Fresh Basil
Bunch of Fresh Oregano
Bunch of Fresh Thyme
Roasted Pine Nuts
Butter
Balsamic Vinegar
Red Wine
Olive Oil
Mozzarella
Goats Cheese
Parmesan
Panko Bread Crumbs
Dice the onion, add oil, and saute until soft. Add the garlic, and cook for another two minutes. Next, add the diced tomatoes, a splash of balsamic and red wine, chili, and cook on a medium heat until the tomatoes start to break down and form a sauce. At this point I would usually add anchovies or something to give added depth, but upon tasting how fresh the tomatoes were, the sauce was incredible and I didn't want to take away from the freshness of the garden veggies. It makes me think about what real Italian cooking must be. I can imagine growing up on an italian country side and eating meals like this. Enough day dreaming, add in some chopped basil, oregano, season with salt and pepper, and let simmer for another minute. Remove from heat.
To dehydrate the mushrooms, place them in a dry pan, with plenty of room around each mushroom. Cook on a medium to high heat until water starts to be released. After around 4 minutes when you start to notice the mushrooms sweating, flip them over. Remove and place on a paper towel to pat down. Next, place a knob of butter in the pan, add the mushrooms back in with a couple cloves of bruised garlic, some thyme leaves, salt & pepper, and a squeeze of lemon. Leave to cook on a medium heat for three minutes and refill your wine glass.
Now it's time to assemble our masterpiece! Create the bottom layer with the sliced zucchini, add a layer of the eggplant next, then pour in the tomato sauce generously. Next, add a layer of sliced mozzarella, crumble on the goats cheese to your liking, add some salt and pepper, pine nuts, then basil and oregano leaves. Lastly, arrange a column of mushrooms down the centre of the oval. Finish with more mozzarella, goats cheese, panko bread crumbs, pine nuts, oregano, basil, and parmesan.
