Since joining Brookline’s The Regal Beagle this fall, chef Erika Rosario has added dishes like eggplant rollatini and a veggie bowl with aubergine, but you won’t often catch her eating them. She traces her distaste back to growing up with her grandmother, who used to down an eggplant concoction. “My sister and I would watch her drink it and gag,” Rosario recalls, citing the vegetable’s seeds and mushy texture as the source of her aversion. “I will admit in the early stages of my pregnancy, I had a weird craving for it. Glad to say that went away after eating it twice.” That hankering was short-lived, but Rosario did once eat an eggplant parmesan à la Latina dish her roommate made using sweet fried plantains—and had no idea she’d eaten eggplant until her roommate fessed up. She followed her lead for this lasagna recipe, swapping noodles for plantains, which “give the dish a sweet and savory play.” As for the results? Thanks to the thin slices and zesty sauce, “If I scarf it down, I don’t think about it,” Rosario says. “But if I see the eggplant, I still move it to the edge of my plate.”
For the sauce:
5 heirloom tomatoes, diced
5 plum tomatoes, diced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, diced
5 cloves garlic
1 red onion, diced
2 roasted red peppers, chopped
3 tablespoons sugar
5 basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- · Simmer all ingredients over medium heat with extra-virgin olive oil until cooked down. Then use a food processor to blend the marinara.
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
- · In a separate pan, add the ground beef, salt and pepper to taste, garlic and tomato paste and cook until brown. Mix with the marinara sauce and set aside.
For the lasagna:
2 large eggplants, thinly sliced
4 ripe plantains, thinly sliced
1 quart ricotta
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 ball of mozzarella
2 basil leaves, sliced
- · Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix ricotta and shredded Parmesan. In a casserole dish, layer thin slices of plantain and eggplant, sauce and the cheese mixture. Repeat the process three times, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and layer with fresh mozzarella. Bake for another 10 minutes. Add sliced basil to finish.
Eat Your Veggies!
By Sarah Hagman & Meghan Kavanaugh | Photo Credit: Brian Samuels | Feb. 10, 2017
Since joining Brookline’s The Regal Beagle this fall, chef Erika Rosario has added dishes like eggplant rollatini and a veggie bowl with aubergine, but you won’t often catch her eating them. She traces her distaste back to growing up with her grandmother, who used to down an eggplant concoction. “My sister and I would watch her drink it and gag,” Rosario recalls, citing the vegetable’s seeds and mushy texture as the source of her aversion. “I will admit in the early stages of my pregnancy, I had a weird craving for it. Glad to say that went away after eating it twice.” That hankering was short-lived, but Rosario did once eat an eggplant parmesan à la Latina dish her roommate made using sweet fried plantains—and had no idea she’d eaten eggplant until her roommate fessed up. She followed her lead for this lasagna recipe, swapping noodles for plantains, which “give the dish a sweet and savory play.” As for the results? Thanks to the thin slices and zesty sauce, “If I scarf it down, I don’t think about it,” Rosario says. “But if I see the eggplant, I still move it to the edge of my plate.”
Eggplant Plantain Lasagna
For the sauce:
5 heirloom tomatoes, diced
5 plum tomatoes, diced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, diced
5 cloves garlic
1 red onion, diced
2 roasted red peppers, chopped
3 tablespoons sugar
5 basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
For the lasagna:
2 large eggplants, thinly sliced
4 ripe plantains, thinly sliced
1 quart ricotta
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 ball of mozzarella
2 basil leaves, sliced
2 of 4
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