Roasted Eggplant Lasagna

Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables. Roasted eggplant is a fabulous ingredient to substitute for ground beef in traditional lasagna recipes. This is a recipe I concocted a few years ago when I had 2 large eggplants in my fridge that needed to be used up. I think it gets better every time I make it! This recipe is for a 10 by 10 pan. If you use a larger pan, increase the ingredients accordingly.

Roasted Eggplant Lasagna

2 large eggplants
1 onion
olive oil
2 garlic cloves
salt
lasagna noodles
ricotta cheese (small tub)
egg
shredded mixed Italian cheeses or shredded mozzarella
parmigiano-reggiano cheese
Oregano or Italian seasonings
a good marinara sauce
optional: green pepper rings

First roast the eggplants. Peel and dice the eggplant into one inch cubes. Dice a medium sized onion. Mince 2 fresh garlic cloves. Place all in a bowl, add several shakes of salt, and splash with olive oil (maybe about 4 T). Mix it all together- splash with more olive oil if it looks dry. Place in a baking pan and roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove and toss in the pan, put back in the oven, and roast for another 10-15 minutes. The eggplant is done roasting when it is browned and mushy. Take out of the oven, stir, and let rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the lasagna. Spread some of the sauce in the bottom of the pan so the lasagna noodles will not stick. Layer noodles on top. (Note: I prefer the Barilla oven ready, flat lasagne that doesn't need to be boiled first.) Mix together the ricotta and a beaten egg. Spread over the lasagne noodles and add another layer of noodles on top. Now spread the eggplant over the second layer of noodles (it should look like the picture above before adding sauce to it). add a thin layer of sauce over the eggplant.

Add the third layer of noodles, cover with sauce and cheeses. Optional: cut green pepper rings and overlap them on top for decoration. Cover and bake at 37 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove cover and bake for 10 more minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.