Eggplant & Prosciutto Lasagna {Naptime Everyday}

About nine years ago I met a really great guy. He was smart, sweet, handsome and funny, and I couldn’t stop gushing about him to all my family and friends. Our initial courtship activities included the usual trips to museums, walks in the park, coffee houses on Sunday morning, and restaurant reservations. Lots of reservations. I didn’t see the need to cook for him since Jean-George and Mr. Meyer were doing a bang-up job for us. I figured, if all went according to plan, we would probably just eat out for the rest of our natural lives. At the time it didn’t seem important that I impress him with my own, somewhat limited, culinary skills. However, I shared this strategy with my mother one night and she became very concerned, pointing out that I would indeed have to start cooking for him at some point. I didn’t quite understand what she was getting at, encouraging me to start feeding him, so the time came for her to teach me a very important life lesson. It is the lesson known as “The Way to a Man’s Heart is Through His Stomach.” It is a lesson I hold very dear to this day because, boy, she was right. I don’t think it is a coincidence that my parents have been happily married for over 35 years.

Armed with this valuable knowledge, it was clearly time for me to stop making reservations and start cooking. So, I began my newest adventure, learning how to cook. Really cook. Not the kind where I would add hot water to noodles, throw in some extra veggies and call it innovative. Mom started clipping and sending me recipes for simple but flavorful dishes like Roasted Lemon Chicken, Green Beans with Slivered Almonds, Vegetable Ratatouille, and Prosciutto wrapped Pork Tenderloin. These were all the right things to teach a budding cook how to build a “no-fail” recipe repertoire whilst romancing a man who loved to eat. Once I started this cooking quest our relationship went from “dating” to “serious couple” practically overnight. I was lucky that this man was a willing taste-tester. He always applauded my efforts and supported the idea of letting me try whatever recipe I had received in the mail that week. In the end I think that romancing his stomach was definitely the right strategy, to this day he is my biggest fan.

This lasagna was one of our all-time favorites right from the start. It also was a milestone of sorts for me because it was my first recipe adaptation. I received a recipe for lasagna with roasted mushrooms and pancetta. But I don’t really like mushrooms and I purchased prosciutto by accident. Thus, I made some substitutions and came up with a recipe for roasted eggplant and prosciutto lasagna. It was a little scary at first, substituting ingredients, but it also felt kind of rebellious and exciting. I made the dish with great care and served it to him with a little bit of trepidation. However, I needn’t have worried, the result was a wonderful, deeply flavored lasagna that left us full and happy. To this day, every time I make it we remark that the eggplant and prosciutto give the dish an excellent balance of salty and sweet. Plus, the herb and shallots mixture, which really give it that deep warm flavor, are all covered in a decadent, silky bechamel sauce. Everyone likes a good bechamel sauce. So, after all the restaurant reservations and cooking experiments, the rest is history. Following several more successes in the kitchen, including a particularly decadent chocolate souffle, we got married and had a baby. I guess, in the end, some couples will always have Paris, and we’ll always have a great lasagna.