Beef and eggplant lasagne
Ingredients
Olive oil for frying
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 eggplants sliced lengthways into thin strips (these will form the layers of the lasagne)
500g beef and liver mince (or just beef mince)
2 punnets of cherry tomatoes sliced in half
1 tin of crushed tomatoes
10 brown mushrooms, chopped finely
375g smooth ricotta
50g danish feta
½ cup of warm water
1 bunch of Tuscan kale (leaves only) finely chopped
½ cup tasty cheese grated
½ cup parmesan cheese grated
Few sprigs of fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Preheat oven to 200 Celsius, fan forced.
Place the sliced eggplant over a few baking trays, don’t overlap the eggplant. Brush the eggplant with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the trays in the oven to cook for 20 minutes, flipping the eggplant halfway through at 10 minutes or until golden on both sides.
In the meantime, add the garlic, cherry tomatoes and a generous drizzle of olive oil to a pan and cook over medium heat until the tomatoes have softened. Next, add the chopped mushrooms and cook until soft. Once the tomatoes and mushrooms have softened and become fragrant add the beef mince and tinned tomatoes and cook through. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the chopped kale to a separate saucepan with some olive oil and cook until it wilts down. Then add to a bowl along with the ricotta, warm water, parmesan and feta and salt and pepper, mix well.
To assemble the lasagne layer the bottom of the pan with some of the beef mixture, followed by a layer of eggplant “sheets”. Top this layer with the kale and ricotta mix and repeat until you run out of elements, finish with a layer of beef mince, ricotta mix and sprinkle with tasty cheese.
Place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the lasagne is heated all the way through.
Top with some fresh basil leaves, serve hot and enjoy.