Eggplant Lasagna
This is a classic baked paste dish that will stick to your ribs and keep you satisfied for hours. The only thing missing from this dish is the pasta, yup, you heard me (or read me???) this is an amazing lasagna made using eggplant in place of pasta. Trust me; this is easy and really yummy.
Serves (up to) 12
2 large eggplants,
2 packages sliced mushrooms,
2 packages frozen chopped spinach,
1 container light ricotta,
1 batch of tomato (marinara) sauce,
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese.
– Preheat oven to 350
– Wash the eggplant and pat it dry then slice length wise to 1/4 inch thickness.
– Season all eggplant slices on both sides with salt and pepper.
– Bake the eggplant for 10 minutes.
– Heat the tomato sauce at a low temperature. Add a 1/2 cup of stock, wine or water to the sauce (it helps keep the lasagna moist as it bakes).
– Meanwhile, sauté the mushrooms; in a large pan heat 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is hot (it will ripple) add the mushrooms. After about 5 minutes the mushrooms will start to give off some of their liquid, season with salt and pepper. Set the mushrooms aside when they are cooked.
– Bring a large pot of water up to a boil and cook the frozen spinach; make sure you season with. Strain the spinach when it is cooked according to package directions. When the temperature on the spinach has dropped enough that you can handle it, wring out an excess water using a clean kitchen cloth.
– In a large bowl combine the cooked (dry) spinach and ricotta cheese, season with salt and pepper.
– Now that all of the parts of the lasagna are prepped, you are ready to assemble this masterpiece!
– Turn the heat up on the oven to 375.
– In a traditional lasagna dish (9 x 13) pour a ladle of the tomato sauce on the bottom.
– top with a layer of the eggplant slices (like you would with the pasta sheets in traditional lasagna) and cover the eggplant with another ladle of sauce (coating the entire layer).
– Place another layer of the eggplant down.
– Put an even layer of ricotta cheese/spinach mixture (half of the mixture) on the eggplant
– Cover with another layer of the eggplant.
– Add a ladle of tomato sauce to the pan with the mushroom (keep any liquid that the mushrooms gave off). Pour all of the mushrooms and tomato sauce in an even layer on top of the eggplant layer.
– Top with another layer of eggplant.
– Put the remaining ricotta/spinach on the eggplant spreading it out evenly.
– Top with another layer of eggplant (this should be the final layer of eggplant).
– Top with a tomato sauce.
– If you have any remaining eggplant sheets, place on top of the tomato sauce, centered and then pour the remaining tomato sauce on top of this.
– Top with the Parmesan cheese.
– Cover with tinfoil.
– Bake covered for 30 minutes.
– After 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake uncovered for 10 more minutes; the idea is to crisp up the top layer of the lasagna.
– Let stand for 15 minutes before slicing it up.
Notes:
1. Yes, I know, there is no mozzarella.
2. This is a vegetarian dish but it doesn’t have to be, you can use the meat sauce my traditional lasagna calls for in place of the marina sauce.
3. The mushrooms make this “meaty”.
4. There are about 5 or 6 layers of eggplant here so try to get at least 20 slices out of the large eggplants.
5. Normally recipes call for brushing the eggplant with olive oil before baking but I skipped this step on purpose; as the eggplant lasagna bakes, the eggplant is going to absorb the other flavours instead of oil. This makes for tons of flavour and less fat! (I know, I’m a genius!).
6. It sounds like a lot of work but many of these steps can be made a head of time.