This is such a warm and comforting meal, everyone you serve will love it! It tastes indulgent, but I put little healthy spins that you would never notice! This recipe uses part skim mozzarella cheese and ricotta cheese instead of full fat. Also, the eggplant are not pan fried or breaded…it is layered in the lasagna without cooking. Not pre-cooking the eggplant also saves you a cooking step and clean up!
Make some garlic bread, dress a salad, open a nice bottle of red, and enjoy a night with friends and/or family and this great meal.
Recipe:
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients:
2 Eggs
1 cup Parm (Locatelli) + Extra for Topping
5 cups Part-Skim Ricotta Cheese
1 package Part-Skim Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Salt and Pepper
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Oregano
4 cloves Garlic Minced
2 Yellow Onions - peeled, cut in half & thinly sliced
1 qt (32oz) of Your Favorite Tomato Sauce (we make our own every year)
2 Medium Eggplant - peeled, cut in half width wise & then thinly sliced length wise
1/2 tsp Salt - for the sauce
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a medium sized bowl make the ricotta mixture by combining the eggs, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese, and 1 tsp salt & pepper.
3. In a large sauté pan, heat the 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat and add the onions. Sauté until golden brown (around 6 min), stirring occasionally.
4. Add the minced garlic and cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the tomato sauce, 1/2 tsp salt and bring to a rapid simmer. Reduce the heat to medium/medium high heat and simmer until reduced by half...around 8-10 min, stirring occasionally.
5. Now it is time to assemble the eggplant lasagna. First, spoon a small amount of sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish, then put a layer of eggplant, being sure to slightly overlap to help with stability. Then put a layer of the ricotta mixture, spoon more sauce over the top and then a layer of mozzarella cheese.
6. Continue to do this layer process until you reach the 4th layer of eggplant. This layer is only eggplant, sauce, mozzarella cheese and extra parmesan.
7. Using large pieces of tin foil, loosely cover the top of the lasagna (you don’t want the cheese to stick to the top of the foil). Place in the oven and cook for 1.5 hours. Then, take off the aluminum foil and cook for an additional 25 min or until the top is browned! Serve immediately with garlic bread, a nicely dressed Italian salad and of course, some red wine.
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