This Italian recipe is a traditional recipe from Sicily, it’s full of flavours of the season – ripe tomatoes, celery, mushrooms, aubergine, etc. It is quite hearty and traditionally contains minced beef and mortadella. I chose to create a veggie version with seasonal aubergine here. Aubergine is a mediterranean vegetable readily available in Irish supermarkets. It has a lovely fleshy texture and bite, making it a great substitute for meat, esp in bakes like this one. Feel free to swop out aubergine with minced beef if you prefer.
Method
- In a medium pan heat some olive and start sweating the onions, celery and carrots.
- Next, add white wine, tomato puree and the tin of tomatoes.
- Stir everything well and simmer for 45 minutes or until the vegetables soften.
- Meanwhile, fill a frying pan with enough olive oil to cover the aubergines. Heat the oil and deep fry each aubergine slice for 2-3 minutes.
- Leave aside to cool and drip off oil. Heat your oven to 180C.
- Par-boil the pasta in a pan of boiling water for about 5 minutes.
- Next, take an oven proof dish, fill the bottom with half of the ragout.
- Place half of the pasta on top as well as 1 of the sliced eggs, ½ the mozzarella slices, ½ of the pecorino cubes and a good handful of basil leaves.
- Repeat these two steps and finish the second layer off with a generous covering of grated parmesan.
- Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Serve hot.
