Saturday, March 8, 2008

Eggplant, Zucchini and Broccoli Lasagna

Love at first sight happens only with a very few things ,it happened with Lasagna I first tasted at a catered lunch at work one day. The silky smooth eggplant flavored with tomatoes and garlic mingled with the taste of pasta appealing even to my tongue used to spicy hot food. Recreating this dish at home has been long time pending.

Making the sauce adds a bit of time to the whole process but well worth the effort for the fresh taste. The amount of cheese added can be controlled so the final product does not look oily and unappealing.

The vegetables were grilled with a just a bit of seasoning. If you are regular reader of this column you would immediately understand that talk of seasoning would definitely involve using sambhar powder :) Baked/broiled the veggies, Zucchini and Eggplant after slicing them thin and slightly seasoning with sambhar powder.

Recipe Consulted: One Hot Stove - Roasted Squash Onion Lasagna


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Ingredients
1. 1 Round White Eggplant Slice and sprinkle with salt and let them rest
2. 1 Zucchini sliced
3. 1 small head of broccoli big thicker stems removed and boiled in slightly salted water, remove and lightly pull them apart
4. 4 Roma tomatoes
5. 1 tbsp of tomato paste
6. 5 cloves of garlic chopped fine
7. 3/4 cup of pepper jack cheese + 1 tbsp of shredded cheddar cheese
8. 8 - sheets of no boil Lasagna pasta


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Vegetable Layer



Method
Tomato Sauce
1. Heat a sauce pan with water, add the whole tomatoes and boil for a few minutes,
cool remove the skin and crush them and set aside. (Preserve the water in which they were boiled to add to the sauce if required)
2. In a pan heat a tsp of oil and when hot add the garlic and saute till soft (careful to not let them burn)
3.Now add the crushed tomatoes and about 1/4 cup of preserved water
4. Add salt (just a bit, lots of salt comes from the cheese), black pepper and red chili pepper and let boil till desired consistency of sauce is reached no too thick slightly pouring consistency about 10-15 minutes. Set Aside


Grilling Veggies
1. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray, spread the veggies, sprinkle the seasoning and bake/ broil till soft.



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Ready for the oven


Lasagna Assembly
1. Spray the baking sheet with cooking spray and pour some sauce on the bottom.
2. Now layer the pasta (dip the pasta in water before layering) add a layer of veggies, pour some sauce.
3. Layer with cheese, repeat, finish with pasta and some sauce and shredded cheese on top.
Cover lid with foil.
4. Preheat oven to 350F and bake for 30 minutes, remove foil and cook for another 10 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes and serve.



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Hot from the oven


Well worth the time and effort. Serve hot.

16 comments:

  1. Happy Intl women's day Indo. Great dish to celebrate it and so colorful too, good one. Enjoy the weekend. It's raining cats and dogs and it's very windy, sitting at home warm and cozy!:)

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  2. I don't like broccoli or zucchini:( so my lasagna has cheese, peppers, tomatoes and pesto! but I agree, its well worth the effort!

    your lasagna looks great! hope you can participate in the WBB-Balanced Breakfasts event I'm hosting this month:)

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  3. such a colorful dish, d-lish!
    i also add ricotta cheese in my lasagna ;)

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  4. very pretty end result. when me made lasagna once, it looked like glop.

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  5. Hi Indo,
    I like the taste of brinjal fried in butter for pasta recipes.
    Looks great, will try this soon and let you know the outcome of it. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

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  6. WOw that looks so delicious.
    My daughter is a very diffivult when it come to her veggies but i am sure if i make thius she will eat them

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  7. Asha, thanks and hope you had a great Women's day too. I have had enough of winter what with one or the other falling sick at home I am bushed. Trying to make dishes attractive and nutritious to get the kiddies energy up. That is the perfect thing to do on a cold rainy day - Stay warm.

    Mansi, never was a broccoli fan but for some strange reason the kiddies like it :) but in a dish like this you can hardly taste it but withs peppers, tomatoes there is nothing to compain about in yours either. Sure will try, heading over there to check the rules.

    Richa, this is my first attempt and I kind of like the spicy cheeses next time it will be spinach with ricotta.

    Bee, hard to believe anything you cooked would end up as a glop ;) but I do agree it did end up looking pretty.

    MT, yes eggplant in pasta dishes sounds like a great idea. I have never tried them in other pastas. Absolutely do tell me how you like it.

    Happy Cook, it was light and flavorful, the advantages of cooking Lasagna at home and great way to disguise them vegetables even though they meld beautifully in this dish. Do try and see if your little one bites :)

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  8. I can never cut a pretty piece like that. Its more like a scoop always :)

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  9. Seeing this delicious vegetarian lasagna reminds me that I should make my own version again soon, though I am tempted to make yours. Thanks for sharing!

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  10. Looks superrbbb... Going into my to try list !!

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  11. A lovely lasagna, with all my favorite vegetables :). Are you a mind reader, dear :). The stuff for dreams :-D.

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  12. WOW! Indo, that dish looks exceptionally delicious.

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  13. ISG, your veggie lasagna looks absolutely fantastic! Love that no-boil pasta -- dipping in water is a great idea. And of course, the sambhar powder adds its own magic :)

    Will be trying this one soon!

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  14. Good gosh, girl, this looks fantastic!!! Send me a plate of that goodness anytime! :)

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  15. Home made and irresistible! Mine has raw onions too! But I rarely make it these days - no other pasta fans in my house. :-(

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  16. yummy and cheesy lasagnaa ,love it

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