Lazy Man's Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna

We had two of our very best friends over for dinner last Friday, so I wanted to make something delicious! My first thought, of course, was, "what do we already have to work with?" Well, we had a beautiful zucchini and eggplant from my mom's garden, a tub of ricotta cheese, and several cans of crushed peeled tomatoes. From that, I created Lazy Man's Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna.

Derek and I finished the leftovers yesterday, but this is a great meal to reheat- cook it Monday and have it for the week! If it were not for all the cheese, this would be a fairly healthy meal, so if you are looking for health, improvise on the cheese.

You will need:

an eggplant

a zucchini

flour for frying the eggplant (I used whole wheat*)

a few eggs for frying

oil

two cans of crushed peeled tomatoes

1 box rotini (again, I use whole wheat*)
1 small tub of ricotta cheese
1 package of shredded italian cheese
1 head of garlic
1 onion
spices

The first thing you want to tackle in this meal is probably your sauce. I made a quick sauce for this, but it was delicious. (Typically, if I am having spaghetti and meatballs or chicken parmesan or something, I'll cook my sauce all day). For the sauce, I typically chop up the garlic and onion and sauté it in the sauce pan with some olive oil for a little while, but for this meal, I sautéed the onion and full cloves of garlic separately, and added it into the sauce later, slightly undercooked (this is great if you really like garlic).  If you do not like big chunks of garlic or a very potent taste, I recommend the first method mentioned.

For the sauce, I used two cans of crushed peeled tomatoes and just about a half a can of water. Let that boil, add whatever spices you prefer ( I recommend at least heavy doses of oregano, basil, parsley, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and wine, of course! Though I usually add a few more spices depending on my mood). Everyone makes sauce differently, and, at least for Italians (don't let our last name fool you, we are Italian!) no sauce will ever be as good as mom's. Just experiment until you find the mixture of spices you and your family like best. The sauce can sit on low heat while you prepare the rest of the meal- just be sure to stir occasionally.

Onto the vegetables!

This was my first attempt at frying eggplant. I love eating it, so I figured I should learn how to make it for myself! I found that chopping it into small chunks was best for this meal. I cut the eggplant the short way so I had circles, and then I cut those into 6ths or 8ths, depending on the size of the circle. I cut the zucchini the same way.

I cooked the eggplant and the zucchini differently for a variety in the meal, and also so that the dish was not full of fried food. I put the zucchini on a stone baking dish with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I cooked it for about 10-15 minutes at around 375 degrees- just to get it tender and seasoned. You can leave the oven on because you will put the whole meal in the oven at the end.

While the zucchini cooked, I put a frying pan of vegetable oil on medium heat (be careful not to let the oil get too hot- burnt oil can really smoke up a small apartment!). Dip the eggplant chunks first in flour and then in egg (seems like it should be the other way around, right? Trust me, this works!) and then place them in the heated oil.

You'll want to keep an eye on these as they cook. Use tongs to move them around a little during cooking. The frying should really only take a couple of minutes, maybe. Keep in mind that you will be baking a little bit, too, so these will get a bit more cooking time, though not a lot. When they are done, use your tongs to place them on a plate with a paper towel that the oil can drain onto.

When the eggplant and zucchini are done, you can just set them aside in the baking pan. I used a 9x13 pan, but a smaller and deeper one would have worked nicely as well.

Finally, cook your pasta in boiling water, as usual. I used whole wheat rotini. It holds the ingredients together well in the dish.

When the pasta is done, you are ready to assemble the meal.

Add the pasta and the sauce to the eggplant and zucchini in the baking pan and mix well. 

Add the ricotta cheese, spread the mixture evenly across the pan, and cover the top of the mixture with the shredded italian cheese.

 Place in the heated oven and bake until the cheese is melted. Take the meal out of the oven and enjoy (preferably with a glass of red wine)!

*I choose to use whole wheat products whenever I can, even if I am making something purely indulgent. Enriched flour products have basically no nutritional value, so they are empty. I like the taste of whole wheat, in fact, I find it heartier, plus it has nutritional value. Seems like an obvious choice to me. I always go with 100% whole wheat.