Eggplant Lasagna

Eggplant is a somewhat odd plant. It is a member of the nightshade family which includes tomatoes and potatoes. It is grown worldwide and used in all sorts of cuisines: Asian stir-fry, Moussaka from Greece, Middle Eastern Baba Ghanoush, Indian Bhartha, French Ratatouille and Moroccan Zaalouk. The list goes on and on including Italian Eggplant Parmigiana.

Most years the vegetable garden has one or two eggplants in the mix. Eggplant can be a finicky producer. One year each plant will have one or two fruits (yes, they are a fruit not a vegetable). The next year will produce so many one wonders what the heck to do with them.

My go to for preserving them is to slice them with a mandoline, skin and all. I coat them with a thin layer of olive oil and then grill them on either a grill pan on the stove or the gas grill outside. If I am not using the grilled eggplant right away it freezes very well.

Back to Eggplant Parmigiana. Most recipes start wit
h slicing, salting, draining, breading and pan frying the eggplant, some advocate baking the breaded eggplant to cut down on the oil. The next step is assembling a layered dish with tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, basil and the fried eggplant. Bake it until bubbly and eat. It’s very, very good and time consuming to construct.

Aside from the process to make the dish, the dish seems somewhat one-dimensional to me. Cheesy eggplant with tomato sauce. So, I came up with Eggplant Lasagna. Not that this dish is authentic or even original but it has more good stuff in the layers. I used lasagna noodles and the grilled eggplant slices. There is a layer of sautéed onion, red bell pepper and mushrooms and a layer of cooked crumbled hot Italian sausage (leave this out for vegetarian). I use shredded mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan for the cheese.

It is assembled like lasagna: sauce on the bottom, layer of uncooked noodles, layer of eggplant, layer of cheese, layer of sauce, layer of uncooked noodles, layer of eggplant, layer of sautéed vegetables, layer of cheese, layer of sauce, layer of uncooked noodles, layer of eggplant, layer of sauce, top with cheese. Add ½ cup of water to be sure the noodles cook through and bake at 375F until bubbly. The assemblage is not any easier than the traditional recipe nor is it necessarily less caloric.

It takes around an hour to cook. Test for noodle doneness with a sharp knife. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes then slice up like lasagna and serve. Yumm.