Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s zucchini lasagne
“Knowing how to prepare a lasagne gives you a wonderful appreciation for just how much work goes into its creation, which I think makes the eating even more pleasurable. It’s not that it is a difficult dish, just that it requires a little time and a few different elements: here, I use slowly cooked zucchini, ricotta and store-bought lasagne sheets. While most dried lasagne sheets don’t technically require pre-cooking, a lasagne without tomato sauce or ragu tends to not have enough liquid to cook the sheets properly, so it’s an important step to include.
“Another key step is removing the seeds from the zucchini, which may feel laborious, but ensures the zucchini don’t release too much liquid as they cook, and also gives a really concentrated flavour.” – Julia Busuttil Nishimura.
You’ll need a very large frypan and a 30cm square baking dish for this recipe.
This is an edited extract from Simple Pleasures by Julia Busuttil Nishimura (Plum, RRP $44.99). Photography by Armelle Habib.
Ingredients (15)
- 1/4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil, plus extra, to grease
- 2 eschalots, finely diced
- 1.2 kg zucchini, cut into quarters lengthways, seeds removed and diced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 15-20 dried lasagne sheets (you’ll need about 300g)
- 250g firm full-fat ricotta
- 1 cup (80g) Parmigiano Reggiano or parmesan, grated, plus extra, as needed
- 2/3 cup (50g) Pecorino Romano or pecorino, grated
- 1 fresh buffalo mozzarella ball, thinly sliced
Besciamella
- 1.2L milk, plus extra, to finish
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 80g unsalted butter, chopped
- 80g plain flour
- Good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Method
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1.Warm the oil in a very large frypan over medium heat. Add the eschalot and zucchini with a pinch of salt flakes and cook, stirring often, for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Add the garlic and lemon zest and cook for 1 minute further. Set aside to cool.
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2.For the besciamella, warm the milk with the bay leaf in a medium saucepan to just before simmering – you don’t want it to boil. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and sprinkle in the flour. Whisk to form a roux and cook until the roux starts to colour, around 1 minute-1 minute 30 seconds. Slowly pour the hot milk into the roux, whisking constantly to avoid any lumps. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring regularly, for 10 minutes, or until the besciamella has thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Stir in the nutmeg and season to taste. Remove from the heat and discard the bay leaf.
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3.Working with a few sheets at a time, blanch the lasagne sheets in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 30 seconds. Lay them in a single layer on clean tea towels to avoid them sticking.
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4.Season the ricotta with salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper and set aside.
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5.Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced.
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6.Grease a 30cm square baking dish with oil and spread a thin layer of besciamella over the base. Add a layer of pasta, scatter on a layer of the zucchini mixture, then dot with some ricotta. Top with some besciamella and a good scattering of Parmigiano and Pecorino. Continue layering until all the ingredients have been used, finishing with a layer of pasta, some besciamella that has been thinned out with a little extra milk, the buffalo mozzarella and plenty of Parmigiano and Pecorino. In this size dish, you will have between six to seven layers. A larger dish will produce a shorter lasagne.
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7.Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the lasagne is golden and bubbling. Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes, then cut and serve.
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