So I love lasagna. But I don’t eat cow’s milk (except for mild amounts of organic butter), and I don’t eat wheat…..so ordering it at a restaurant is not an option. Making it at home however, turned out to be a delicious science experiment!
Now I’m sure I’m not the first to think of the idea of a goat cheese and eggplant lasagna, but I didn’t use a recipe, so that means I invented this one.
Here’s what you’ll need to fill a 9 x 13 inch baking dish….
2 medium sized purple eggplants
one leek, trimmed
one bunch of spinach
a few palm-fulls of pinenuts
one long log of goat cheese (not the short stumpy ones)
a can of organic diced tomatoes
a really big can of organic tomato sauce
your favorite italian seasonings (oregano, basil, red pepper flakes)
To prep:
1. toast the pine nuts in a dry pan for a couple minutes, making sure they don’t burn and set aside.
2. Steam or sautee the spinach (my steaming method is to place the food in a colander in a pot with about an inch of water and put a lid on it). Try to squeeze out as much water as you can, and chop it up after it has cooled. Set aside.
3. Peel and thinly slice (1/8 to 1/4 inch thick) the eggplant. Brush with olive oil on both sides and lay them on a baking sheet with a little salt and pepper, cover with foil and cook in oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until tender and soft. **If you prep the lasagna with uncooked eggplant, all the water will come out while the lasagna is cooking creating a runny mess…I partially learned this lesson so you don’t have to!)
You can also toast the pine nuts and steam the spinach while the eggplant is cooking, so maybe I should have numbered these steps differently! Oh well. As long as it all gets done!
4. Make tomato sauce: sautee a finely chopped leek (leeks are sandy, so trim the roots and the big dark green parts, slice in half length wise, and rinse thoroughly) in olive oil with salt and pepper in a large pan. Add diced tomatoes and your herbs of choice, fresh herbs are particularly tasty. I like spiciness…so I threw in a hefty dose of red pepper flakes. Add the large can of organic tomato sauce, mix it all up so the flavors come together for 10 minutes or so. Then set it aside and allow to cool a little.
Layering Time!
In your oiled casserole dish, layer the cooked eggplant side by side to cover the bottom. Spoon some tomato sauce all over that, followed by a layer of the chopped spinach. Doesn’t have to thoroughly cover the surface. Sprinkle some of the pine nuts after that and then follow that with slices of the goat cheese. Again, the cheese doesn’t have to cover every square inch, so just throw some circles of it down in a pattern, maybe 2 or 4 across by however many long. You want the goat cheese to make it through 2 more layers, so don’t cut the slices too thick. Repeat with the eggplant, sauce, spinach, pine nuts and cheese until you run out of ingredients, making sure the last layer on top is sauce. You can sprinkle any remaining pine nuts and crumble the last of the cheese on top as well.
Place back in the oven at 375 to 400 for maybe 20 minutes until it’s all really hot and delicious. Cool slightly, cut into squares and serve!
We had this the other night with a side of braised leeks (I’ve never made this recipe, but it looks delicious:Epicurious Braised Leek recipe.) I just quarter length-wise the clean leeks, and sautee with a little butter, salt and pepper for a couple minutes, then add just enough veggie stock to almost cover them but not quite. Cover with lid, and let it simmer until they fall apart they’re so tender. Delish.
A simple side salad would also suffice as an excellent side dish, and you’ve got quite the satisfying meal! It’s also great because I was able to freeze half of it so we didn’t have to get sick of eating the same dinner for a week, and now we’ve got a future home cooked meal waiting for us in the freezer for a cold winter night. It’s saddled up in there right next to Caitlin and Courtney’s home cooked chili from last Saturday’s chili cook off.
Especially for the winter…make large batches of these kinds of meals and freeze in single meal sized portions. You’ll be so thankful you did!
Eat up!
