1 cup rice flour or all purpose flour for none gluten free verison (but I don't know why you would want to do that)
1 quart milk (cow, soy or rice)
1/4 whole nutmeg, grated
salt and fresh ground pepper
3 large eggplants sliced into 1/2 inch slices (long ways)
cooking spray
Directions
To make the meat sauce: Place a large heavy based pan over a med- high heat. Saute the ground beef and ground pork. Drain the fat. Add the onions for 1-2 minutes. Add the garlic and the bay leaf and thyme and cook for 5-7 minutes until onions and garlic are soft, they should be with out color. Add the red wine and deglaze pan. Add the tomatoes and bring to a gentle simmer for 3 hours. Remove bay leaf and thyme stems.
To make the béchamel sauce: Place med sized saucepan over a low to med heat. Add the butter, melt and flour and stir with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes. Slowly add the milk and stir constantly until sauce has no lumps. This process will take 10 minutes or so. Season the sauce with a little nutmeg, salt and pepper.
To make the eggplant layers: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spray cooking sheets with cooking spray. Lay eggplants on the cooking sheets and spray with oil. Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
To assemble the dish: Place half of the meat sauce on the bottom of a large oven proof dish (at least 9-inches x 13-inches) and then place a layer of sliced eggplant, then half of the béchamel sauce on top. Repeat this process finishing with a layer of béchamel sauce.
Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven.
Comments
Michelle Watson on Mon Mar 12 19:27:31 UTC 2007:
This is an adaptation of what was on take home chef. I forgot to add the bay leaves to the list of ingredients.