Travel Pete's Journal: Basements, Kids & Mental Health

Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna

Mmmm... Tasty delights from the kitchens of Cooking Light!

Turns out it was better than "normal" Eggplant Parmesan, which can be a bit greasy since it's fried. This is baked.

And did I mention tasty?

Especially with homemade lasagna noodles and spaghetti nests I made yesterday, thanks to Mom-in-Law moving to town and gifting us a great Pasta grinder metal thingee from Italia!

A few small personalizations have been made to the recipe, but otherwise it's golden as is! Sized for 4 adults and a kid.

I'll skip miscellaneous descriptions such as "sun-ripened" or "freshly ground."

Sauce:
t olive oil
C chopped onion
2 garlic cloves minced
C dry red wine
2C no-salt-added diced tomatoes with juice
1/2t thyme
1/2t rosemary
1/2t pepper
Dash salt (or no salt if diced tomatoes above have salt)
2C no-salt-added tomato sauce (or 1 15oz can)

Eggplant:
2 eggplants, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch slices
Sprinkle of salt (to cover eggplant slices as they dry)
T water
t olive oil
2 egg whites
C breadcrumbs, italian seasoned if possible or just add Italian seasonings

Other ingredients:
C shredded mozzarella
4T shredded parmesan
1/4t pepper
6 lasagna noodles (preferably homemade :-)

Directions:

Sauce: heat olive oil in saucepan on med-high. Sauté onion till slightly golden. Add garlic and sauté another minute. Add wine, cook a few minutes. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, thyme, rosemary and pepper. Reduce heat, simmer 20-30 minutes until a touch thickened.

Preheat oven to 450F.

Eggplant: Arrange cut eggplant slices on paper towels, sprinkle both sides with salt. Let dry for 15 minutes. Pat dry.

You'll be dipping the eggplant into an egg mixture, then breadcrumbs. In one bowl, combine water, oil and egg white and whisk. Put breadcrumbs in the other bowl.

Dip eggplant in egg mixture, then coat in breadcrumbs (dredge or double dip it). Coat baking sheet with cooking spray and add eggplant pieces. Bake at 450F for 20 minutes, turn after 10. Cool on wire rack.

Lasagna
Combine cheeses and pepper. In two 8x4 non-stick bread pans, spoon about 1/3 cup of sauce on bottom.

Then repeat layer 3 times:
1. Noodle
2. Eggplant slices
3. 1/4c sauce
4. 3T cheese

Ending with cheese on top. Bake at 450F for 40-50 minutes. Dee-lish!

Serve with remaining red wine. I accompanied it with maple-glazed acorn squash rings, sweet and yummy. Supposely you can freeze it. I'm testing that now, and will provide results as they become available.

Posted by BilFish at September 1, 2004 07:27 AM