Click to Print This Page (top banner and side navigation will not print)
4 small globe eggplants
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt to taste
1 quart cherry tomatoes
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella
15 basil leaves
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 pound fresh ricotta
1 cup grated parmesan
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Trim the ends of the eggplant. Slice a small bit of the skin off one of the sides of the eggplant. Rest the eggplant on that side and thinly slice the eggplant vertically (discard the first piece, which will be mostly skin). Arrange the eggplant slices on a baking sheet and lightly brush them with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt.
Roast the eggplant in the oven until it is lightly brown, about 10 minutes. After removing the eggplant from the oven, lower the temperature to 350 degrees.
While the eggplant is cooking, make the sauce. The recipe for the Almost Sauce is here.
Spread a ladleful of the tomatoes in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch casserole pan. Add a layer of eggplant and then add some of the tomato sauce, half of the mozzarella and half of the basil. Drizzle with some of the egg. Add another layer of eggplant, then tomato sauce, then the ricotta, then the remaining basil. Again, drizzle with the egg. Continue layering until you have used all of the ingredients. The last layers should be tomato sauce, the remaining mozzarella, and the parmesan, in that order.
Bake until the tomato sauce is bubbling and the cheese on top has melted, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving.