Roasted Vegetable Lasagna (Deborah’s version)
I encourage you to play with this recipe. I'm sure mushrooms would be delicious. I can't eat them, but if you like them and want to make this dish more robust, give it a try. This recipe has a fair amount of dairy in it, but it is absolutely delicious! An alternative to the ricotta could be (for example) pureed butternut squash! It can be served as a vegetarian main or as a side dish. I often pair it with turkey sausages when I have vegetarians and meat lovers at the same table.
Servings 6 people
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant cut into large pieces
- 2 zucchini, medium, or use other summer squash varieties cut into large pieces
- Cooking spray
- 1 teaspoon salt divided
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper divided
- 2 red bell peppers roasted, skin removed, seeded (you can use already prepared, jarred)
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup grated Asiago cheese divided
- 1/4 cup minced fresh basil
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- 6 lasagna noodles I use gluten free but regular can be used. I like lentil noodles. I only use on bottom and top
- 1 26-ounce jar tomato-basil spaghetti sauce divided
- 3/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese divided
- 1/4 cup pesto or ¾ cup homemade I usually make my own – see recipe - use commercial if you don’t have time. I have also made and used broccoli pesto.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Coat eggplants and zucchini with cooking spray. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Roast eggplant and zucchini until tender, 10-20 minutes. Cool; Chop into smaller pieces and combine in a large bowl.
- Roast bell peppers, skin-side down until tender and skin blisters. Chop and add bell peppers to eggplant mixture.
- Combine ricotta cheese, egg, 1/2 cup Asiago cheese, basil, parsley, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
- Reduce oven to 375°.
- Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 3 noodles over tomato sauce. Top with eggplant mixture. Spread ricotta cheese mixture over eggplant mixture; Spread pesto over ricotta mixture; sprinkle with 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese.
- Top with remaining 3 noodles. Spoon 1 cup spaghetti sauce over noodles. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Asiago cheese and remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese (or more, to taste).
- Bake at 375° for 1 hour. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. If I'm in a hurry, I bake in microwave for 15 minutes and put in oven for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted.
Notes
OK - I only put one layer of each group, not the traditional multiple layers. I've also added a 1/2 cup of cooked, pureed butternut squash to the ricotta or just layered butternut squash on top of the vegetables. Do what you want - I'm sure it will be delicious!