Roasted Eggplant and Mushroom Lasagna

I'm trying to up my vegetarian meals game. I make lasagna fairly regularly, and the vegetarian version is usually spinach. I decided I needed a refresh. 

Notes: If you're in a hurry, just use your favorite jarred sauce. But if you have the time, the homemade version is easy to do!

Maybe you're surprised by the appearance of mint on the herbs list? You shouldn't be! Mint is under-used in savory dishes and it goes great with eggplant.

I used to think that you had boil lasagna noodles like you boiled other pasta, but really there's no need. You just need them to be pliable. If you cook them all the way, you lose the texture when you put them in the oven. It's also way harder to layer them when you need to assemble everything---they just fall apart. 

I know those no-boil lasagna noodles are all the rage, but honestly? They aren't very good. They don't stand up to a hearty lasagna. And they have a weird taste.

Lasagna is a great make-ahead dish. You can roast the veggies and put the ricotta mixture together earlier in the day and just keep them in the fridge until dinner time. I'd take them out while your pasta water is coming to a boil so that they're closer to room temperature. You can also assemble the whole lasagna and put the baking dish in the fridge! Make sure you let it sit out for 30 minutes before you put it in the hot oven.  

Ingredients: 

1 normal-sized eggplant

1 package of mushrooms (white or baby bella)

1 small onion

1 15 oz. package of ricotta

1 mozzarella ball

Approx. 28 oz of marinara sauce (homemade recipe to follow)

1 egg

1 box of lasagna noodles

2 tablespoons each of chopped fresh basil, fresh parsley, fresh oregano, fresh mint

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Directions: Heat the oven to 400. 

Start with your marina sauce if you're making your own (recipe follows). If not, roast your vegetables. De-stem the mushrooms and slice them. Dice the eggplant in 1-inch pieces. Slice the onion thick. Put everything on a sheet tray, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Roast them for 15-20 minutes until soft and starting to brown. Set aside and drop the oven temperature down to 375.

In a mixing bowl, beat the egg and then add the ricotta and fresh herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Stir everything together until well combined. Put the bowl in the fridge while you do other things. 

In a large pot, bring water to just below a boil. Add salt and then put in your lasagna noodles. Let them cook until they're pliable, use tongs to gently separate them in the pot. Slice your mozzarella ball (keep the slices kind of thin).

When the noodles are done, ladle about a cup of marinara sauce into a 9x13 baking dish. Put four noodles in the dish. Top them with 1/3 of the ricotta mixture. Top that with 1/3 of the eggplant mixture. Top with another cup of sauce. Repeat the layers until the veggies and ricotta are used up. Put four noodles on top and pour the remaining sauce over them. Put slices of mozzarella on top. 

Cover with foil and bake for between 30-40 minutes until it's all bubbly and the noodles have expanded. Take the foil off and bake for 5-10 more minutes until the mozzarella starts to brown. Remove from the oven and wait about 7-10 minutes before you cut into it. Serve and enjoy!

Easy marina sauce

Ingredients: 

1 small onion

5-6 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons each of chopped fresh basil, fresh oregano, fresh parsley

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

3 tablespoons of tomato paste

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Directions: In a skillet or sauce pan on medium, sauté the onion in a few tablespoons of olive oil until it's tender and starting to brown (about 10-15 minutes). Add in the garlic and cook 5 more minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir. Add in the herbs and pour in the crushed tomatoes. Stir everything together. If it looks a little thick, add just a bit of water. Turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer, stirring occasionally, for as long as you have--the longer the better. 

Eggplant and Chickpea Tikka Masala + New Food on a Budget

This is the debut of Indian food here at the professor's kitchen. I'm not a huge fan of Indian food, but last semester I tried a place in town with some colleagues and loved it. The dish I had was so good I decided to make my own version at home.

It's a new year and it's a great time to try new things. But if you're like most people you've probably made a new year's resolution about saving money. Luckily, you can do both. Here are some tips for trying new dishes without breaking your piggy bank or your resolution:

1. Look before you shop: The Internet is a wonderful thing. You are just a search away from thousands of recipes. Before you go to the store, do some homework. Decide what kind of dish you want to try: Indian or French? Noodles or rice? Meat or no meat? Knowing what you want to make ahead of time helps you plan and helps you budget.

2. Look long-term: Deciding to try new things doesn't mean you have to do it all at once. Pick one or two dishes to start with. There's no reason to make something new every night. Try a new dish on the weekends when you have more time. Make it once a month. Make a list of things you want to try and keep it posted on the fridge. Get the kids involved by letting them pick a dish. If you think long-term, you won't have to break the bank buying specialty ingredients with every trip to the store.

3. Look for dishes with few ingredients: When I decided I wanted to try Indian food, I started searching recipes to see what was involved. Some recipes for tikka masala had an ingredient list a mile long. I picked the ones that didn't. When you're trying something new, don't feel like you have to use the most authentic recipe or the fanciest one. The less you have to buy the more new things you can try.

4. Look for bargains: Did you know places like Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Ross, and Home Goods have food sections? You can get otherwise really expensive specialty ingredients for cheap. For the dish I made, I needed garam masala (an Indian spice mix). At the grocery store, it was pricey, but at Home Goods, it was much more reasonable. Did you know that in the grocery store, often the spices in the international foods aisle are much cheaper than the ones in the baking aisle? The cumin that's in the Latino food section is the same cumin in the spice section, but it costs less. Also, feel free to swap out things on the ingredient list with things you already have. If the recipe calls for tomato paste and you have ketchup, use it. If the recipe calls for smoked paprika and you have regular paprika, use it.

With a little ingenuity and planning, you can try new dishes without having sacrifice your best laid budget plans! On to the recipe!

Notes: This tikka masala was not particularly hot, so we added some hot sauce to ours. The powder I got was no hotter than regular curry powder. If you want a stronger flavor, you could use 3 teaspoons instead of 2. I would start with 2 if you're not sure.

I used plain white rice, but feel free to use brown or Basmati if you're feeling fancy.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
1 can chickpeas
1 onion
6-7 cloves of garlic
1 bunch parsley
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 cup water or chicken stock
1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup whole milk or plain yogurt
Extra hot sauce (optional)
Salt
Olive oil
Rice for serving

Directions:

Start by prepping all the veggies. Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and dice the eggplant. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.

Heat the oil (I used about 3 tablespoons) in a large skillet on medium high. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and fragrant. Add the garam masala and cook until fragrant. Be careful not to burn the spices. If the pan starts to look too dry add a little water to the pan.

When the spices are fragrant, add the eggplant. Season with salt. Cook until the eggplant is just tender. Pour in the water or stock. Stir in tomato paste. Turn the heat down to medium/medium low (it needs to bubble, but not vigorously) and cover. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

While the tikka masala is simmering, cook the rice and chop the parsley. After 20-30 minutes is up, turn off the heat and stir in the milk or yogurt. Serve by putting a bed of rice on a plate and then topping it with tikka masala. Sprinkle with parsley and enjoy!

Eggplant Pizza

Happy New Year, everyone!

People usually resolve to eat healthier in the new year, which means finding more ways to eat vegetables. Eggplant is an overlooked vegetable, so resolve to eat more of it this year.

Notes: Eggplant contains a lot of water, so you need to get some of that out before you put it on the pizza. I salted mine so it would drain and then patted it dry several times.

 If you wanted some extra flavor, you could grill the eggplant first. You'd need to slice it a little thicker.

I liked the way the eggplant turned out, but I think next time I might brush it with olive oil. I might also add some fresh basil on top when the pizza is done.

I made a whole wheat crust for some added nutrients.

Ingredients:
1 ball of homemade pizza dough
1 ball fresh mozzarella
1 cup of your favorite pizza sauce (we have Vesper Brothers up here, so that's what we used)
1/2 a small eggplant

Directions:

Heat the oven to 500. Position one rack at the top of the oven and one at the bottom.

Thinly slice the eggplant. Salt both sides of each slice and lay them on a cooling rack or in a colander. Let them sit for 45 minutes to an hour. Liquid will start to leech out. Pay them as dry as you can and set aside. Tear the mozzarella into small pieces.

Roll out the dough and lay it on a pizza stone or round baking sheet. Spread sauce evenly around the dough.  Scatter half the mozzarella around the pizza. Add the eggplant and then top with the rest of the cheese.

Bake for about 20 minutes, 10 minutes on the bottom rack and 10 on the top rack. Slice and enjoy!

Slow Cooker Eggplant Marinara Sauce

If you have a free day on your weekend, make this batch of marinara sauce. You'll end up with enough to use that night and enough to freeze. Very handy!

Notes: I've put eggplant in pasta sauce before, but I haven't made it in the slow cooker. I like to put vegetables in my pasta sauces: more nutrition and more complex flavors.

You need two pieces of equipment for this dish: a slow cooker and an immersion blender.

You need to remember to season this well, so season each layer with salt as you put it in the slow cooker.

If you wanted to make this during the week, I'd do all the prep the night before and just store everything in the fridge overnight. Then you can just dump everything in the slow cooker in the morning. Set the cooker for 8 hours on low and it will be ready when you get home from work.

Ingredients:
2 lbs small tomatoes (I used Roma)
1 large or 2 small eggplants
1 cup of water
1 cup basil leaves
2 shallots
2 tablespoons tomato paste
6 garlic cloves
1 large tablespoon herbs de provence
3 teaspoons sugar
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
Start by dicing the shallots and the eggplant. Put those two items in the slow cooker first and season with salt, pepper, and herbs de provence.

Then dice the tomatoes, mince the garlic, and chop the basil. Add them all to the slow cooker and season once more with salt and pepper. Pour in the water and set the cooker to high for 6 hours. Stir half way through cooking.

When the sauce is done, blend with an immersion blender until smooth. If it seems too thick, just add a little water. Use it just as you would use any marinara sauce. Enjoy!

Eggplant Caprese

This dish is a cross between a caprese salad (featuring tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil) and eggplant parmesan (featuring fried eggplant). It came about mostly because I saw some very pretty eggplants in my grocery store and wanted to make something with them. Since it's hot, though, I didn't want to make eggplant parm because I didn't want to turn the oven on. And so eggplant caprese was born.

Notes: Everything about this dish celebrates the flavors of summer. Use the freshest eggplants and tomatoes you can find. And don't skimp on the fresh mozzarella! Nothing substitutes for it. The beauty of this dish is its simplicity. When you use few ingredients, make sure they're good ones.

This recipe serves two people, but it could be easily doubled to feed four. It will just take a little longer to fry all the eggplant.

Traditional caprese salad calls for basil leaves, but since I had homemade pesto, I figured a little play on the original wouldn't hurt.

It's a show stopper, so if you want to impress you friends, make them this dish!

Food as fashion

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 large tomatoes
1 ball fresh mozzarella
2-3 teaspoons of pesto (use homemade if you have it!)
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil for frying

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and flour to make a wet batter. Pour the cornmeal into a pie plate or cake pan. Add salt, pepper, and oregano to the cornmeal and mix to combine.

Slice the eggplant into 1/2-1/4 inch rounds. Dunk each round into the wet batter, shake off the excess, then coat the round with cornmeal. Put the breaded eggplant rounds on either a large plate or cooling rack. When all the rounds are breaded, put them in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

While the eggplant is chilling, slice the tomatoes into thick slices. Pour oil into a large skillet and heat on medium high. Test the oil by sprinkling a little cornmeal in it. If if floats and starts to bubble, the oil is the right temperature. Take the eggplant out of the fridge and fry a few slices at a time, approximately 3 minutes on each side, until they are golden brown. Drain the rounds by laying them on a plate lined with a paper towel.

When you put the last batch of eggplant in the pan, slice the mozzarella and pull the pesto out of the fridge. When the eggplant is done, layer the cheese, eggplant, and tomatoes on a plate and top with pesto. Serve and enjoy!

Farmer's Market Creation: Heirloom Eggplant Lasagna

Check out these babies! You're used to seeing the big dark purple eggplants, no doubt, but eggplants can come in a lot of varieties. I saw these at the farmer's market and I simply had to have them.

Notes: Oh sweet lasagna. Is there anything better than that layered, cheesy goodness? No way. I much prefer veggie lasagna to the meat variety. You don't have to cook the veggies beforehand, so it saves time and dishes. Lasagna takes enough time as it is.

Heirloom eggplants don't have the same bitterness that their large purple cousins have, so there's no need to salt these beforehand. Even more time saved!

Ingredients:
1 box no-boil lasagna noodles
3 small eggplants
1 26 oz jar of marinara sauce
15 oz. of ricotta cheese
1 large or 2 small balls of fresh mozzarella
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Salt
Pepper

Directions: Heat oven to 375.

Thinly slice your eggplants. Put the ricotta cheese in a bowl, season with salt, pepper, and oregano, and mix well. Set aside.

Grab your 9x13 baking dish and pour 1 cup of sauce in the bottom. Layer the lasagna as follows:
4 pasta sheets
slices of eggplants
1/3 ricotta mixture
more sauce

Repeat until you get to the last four sheets of pasta. Pour over the remaining sauce (you might need to add a little water to the jar to get out every drop -- you need the liquid to cook the pasta). Slice the fresh mozzarella and lay the slices on top.

Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 35 minutes. After the time is up, take the foil off and bake for another 5-7 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Eggplant Lasagna

Vegetable lasagna is one of my favorite things to make and to eat. I have made many versions of it and I will make boatloads more in the future.

Notes: It's that glorious time of year again when summer vegetables start to come in season. The co-op got its first round of eggplant in, so I decided it belonged in my lasagna. Eggplant can sometimes taste bitter. Salting it before you use it will help draw out some of the liquid that contributes to the bitter flavor (I've included that step in the directions).

Lasagna is labor intensive, but not difficult. The hardest part it getting everything ready to assemble.

Here's a good tip: take your ricotta out of the fridge a few minutes before you need it. If it's closer to room temperature, it will spread more evenly.

When it comes to no-boil noodles, remember you need liquid at the edges or else they will stay crunchy. Just be sure to give them a nice coating of sauce before you put everything in the oven.


Ingredients:
1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce (no less than 26 oz., but more is better)
1 eggplant
1 box no-boil lasagna noodles
2 cups of washed baby spinach
12-15 oz. of ricotta cheese
1 large or 2 small fresh mozzarella balls
1 tablespoon herbs de provence
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt
Pepper

Directions: Heat oven to 375.

Slice your eggplant into rounds and lay them on a cooling rack. Sprinkle them with salt and let them sit while you assemble the rest of your ingredients.

Chop the spinach and add it to a bowl with the ricotta cheese. Season well with salt, pepper, red pepper, and herbs de provence. Stir to combine and set aside.

Slice the mozzarella balls into small, thin rounds and set aside.

Take a paper towel and pat dry the eggplant rounds.

Add 1 cup of sauce to the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish. Then, layer everything as follows:
4 noodles
1/3 ricotta mixture
Eggplant rounds
1 cup sauce

Repeat the layers until you use up the ricotta mixture. On the last layer, add the remaining noodles and sauce. Lay the mozzarella rounds on top. Cover with foil and bake for 40-45 minutes until bubbly and hot. Take the foil off and bake for another 5-7 minutes until the cheese on top starts to bubble.

Let stand for 5-10 minutes, serve and enjoy!