Sweet Basil Eggplant Lasagna

January 31, 2017 by Lauren Schlothauer

Like I mentioned earlier, I absolutely love Italian food and a favorite of mine has always been Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo but today I wanted to share my obsession with Eggplant with you! I first discovered my love for eggplant when I had a cream sauce based vegetarian eggplant lasagna in middle school during Art Club. Now, I’m a meat eater and anyone who knows me knows that. So naturally, I would typically add meat to lasagna. If its not your thing, then you can just stick with sauce and noodles (or something noodle like as a substitute). However, I know that everyone is trying to watch their weight after the new year and while grains are an IMPORTANT part of your diet, sometimes its easier to temporarily cut calories when you lessen the amount you are consuming and one easy way to do this is to make this Sweet Basil Eggplant Lasagna.

Growing up mom’s lasagna was always great. Now, there were a few things she did that I’ve jimmied with in this recipe, or applied. For instance, she typically used a can of Hunts tomato sauce with some Italian herbs and I’ve actually found a recipe that changes that a little bit to make a sweeter sauce. Mom also has always used hamburger meat instead of or in combination with sausage, and to me this is pretty normal! She also always uses cottage cheese instead of ricotta because she prefers the texture. I carried on both of these things in this version.

To start out you’ll need to begin making the noodles out of eggplant. This isn’t hard. Isn’t this eggplant beautiful?!

You’ll need to wash it and then you should cut the eggplant length-wise into thin noodles. It’s VERY important to eliminate the pieces that have skin all over the bottom of them because you won’t be able to cut it once it’s baked. (I may or may not have done this the first time I made this recipe).

You’ll then take a brush and cover them in olive oil.

Next, sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

Bake these between 10-14 minutes depending on their thickness.

While they are baking, go ahead and start your sauce. Ever since I found out there was such a thing, I’ve wanted to try making it! In a sauce pan add hamburger meat and saute with the onions until they become softened (they should be translucent) and until the meat is done.

Next, you’ll be adding the crushed tomatoes.

Season them with the sugar, basil and some salt. Add garlic and oil as well. You’ll need to simmer this on low for around ten minutes and then your sauce will be ready to go.

Now you’re ready to build! Begin by ladling some sweet tomato basil sauce in the bottom of a greased casserole dish.

Then add a layer of cooked eggplant ‘noodles’.

Put more sauce on the eggplant and introduce a few spoon fulls of cottage cheese. Spread with the back of a spoon (brb #swooning right about now!)

You’ll next need to add the cheese, mozzarella and Parmesan. Adequately cover the whole layer.

Repeat this until you’re done! (You will need a larger dish than this, my fiance doesn’t do the whole eggplant thing so what is pictured actually turns out to be about a half recipe.)

Then, you’ll just pop this baby in the oven for 40 minutes (the edges should be golden brown) and the middle should appear to be cooked.

After cooling then serve!

Do you substitute vegetables for grains sometimes or are you just an eggplant freak like me? This Sweet Basil Eggplant Lasagna definitely scratches that itch for me!