Saturday Beefcake: Lasagne Con Melanzane e Zucchine

This weekend, in the minds of most, is the unofficial start of summer. Therefore, an Italian dish utilizing two summer vegetables -- eggplant and squash -- is this week's presentation along with a young man named Jason who comes from Lewis Payton Photography via the pages of DNA #88.




Fresh Lasagne 200 grams
Eggplant, two long
Summer Squash or Zucchine, four
Scallions
Scamorza Affumicata (Smoked Mozzarella) 400 grams
Parsley
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 30 grams
Caraway Seed, two teaspoons
Vegetable Broth, a cup and half
Sweet Butter, 50 grams
Nutmeg
Flour about 50 grams
Sea Salt, Freshly Ground Pepper
Extra butter for the baking dish
Oven preheated 350F

1. Cut the squash and eggplant lengthwise, salt them and let them "rest" over paper towels for about thirty minutes.
2. Cut half of the scamorza into small cubes and the other half into slices.
3. In a bowl place the cheese cubes with chopped parsley, the white part of the scalion -- all chopped very finely and then mixed with the caraway.
4. Delicately dry the vegetables and saute them in a skillet with about 20 grams of the olive oil
5. Place them on a platter and distribute on each some of the cheese mixture and roll them up.
6. Cook the fresh lasagne 2-3 rectangles at a time in boiling water -- very important that they are al dente -- put them aside to cool off.
7. Melt the butter in a casserole, add the flour and let ti bronw slightly and then add the broth a littel at a time, stirring constantly until it thickens.
8. Salt and Pepper to taste with a few gratings of nutmeg.
9. Arrange the rectangles of lasagne in a buttered baking dish and then spread the sauce over them.
10. Then arrange half the vegetables over them.
11. Then spread another layer of the sauce and then cover it with one third of the scamorza slices and then add another layer of pasta.
12. Then another layer of the vegetable rolls and then more sauce and another third of the sliced cheese.
13. Finally another layer of pasta and then cover with the remaining slices of cheese.
14. Bake for fifteen minutes. Serve room temperature.



Okay, okay -- so this may be too much time to spend in a hot kitchen during the summer months. Get it ready the night before while the sun sleeps. When Jason (or someone like him) arrives for this summer repast, it would be best to be calm, cool and collected. A chilled bottle of Ciavolich "Pecorino" would do well to accompany this dish, a wonderful first course. Preparing good food for the likes of Jason (or someone like him) would make the work put into it all worth it.

Jason was photographed in Sydney, Australia where pleasant weather all year long makes people like Jason -- and if DNA is any indication, there are more than a few -- well worth many endeavours.