Is that what we see just a cover of what hides underneath? Make this eggplant lasagna recipe to see what lays underneath the cheese, is real!
Ingredients
Beginner
Pasta
- 1 lb / 500g Eggplant (sliced)
- 1 tablespoon Salt
Sauce
- 2 medium Onion (diced)
- 1 lb / 500g Ground meat
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ lb / 250g Tomato sauce
Layering
- 9 oz / 250g Ricotta cheese
- 4 oz / 125g Mozzarella cheese (sliced or grated)
- 1 tablespoon Oregano
- 1 tablespoon Basil
Advanced
For detailed instructions check out: How to make Bolognese sauce
Sauce
- 4 oz / 100g Bacon or pancetta (diced)
- 1 Onion (diced)
- 1 Carrot (diced)
- 2 Celery stalks (diced)
- 1 lb / 500g Ground beef
- 1/2 cup / 125ml Water or white wine
- 2 Tomatoes (diced)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 6 piece Black pepper (whole)
- 1/2 cup / 125ml Milk
- Pasta for serving
- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for topping (or some other hard Italian cheese)
- ½ lb / 250g Tomato sauce
Pasta
- 1 lb / 500g Eggplant (sliced)
- 1 tablespoon Salt
Layering
- 9 oz / 250g Ricotta cheese
- 4 oz / 125g Mozzarella cheese (sliced or grated)
- 1 tablespoon Oregano
- 1 tablespoon Basil
Kitchen equipment
- 8″ x 8″ / 20.5cm x 20.5cm Casserole dish
How to make Eggplant lasagna
Beginner
Pasta
- Cut the eggplants up to about 0.08″ / 2mm thick slices.
- Add salt and place them into a bowl for at least 10 minutes.
- Place the eggplant slices into a greased or parchment papered baking tray so they don’t much cover each other.
- Put them into a 400°F / 200°C preheated oven for about 10 minutes until they get a bit roasted here and there. Depending on the availability of baking sheets and oven capacity we may need to do several batches.
Sauce
- At the same time we are processing the eggplants pour some oil into a frying pan and saute the diced onion until it gets a glassy / translucent look for about 5 – 10 minutes.
- Add the ground meat and brown it.
- Add the tomato sauce and cook it until the tomato sauce water content reduced about at least a quarter. The whole process should take about 30 minutes.
Assembly
- Once the sauce is done, divide it into two parts and spread one half onto the bottom of a casserole dish. With more ingredients we can make more layers like in our keto cabbage lasagna or zucchini lasagna.
- Place a layer of eggplants on top.
- Mix basil with oregano and ricotta then spread half of it with half of sliced or grated mozzarella on top.
- If we forgot to mix the basil and oregano with the ricotta, just sprinkle it on top and start spreading the other half of the sauce on top.
- Repeat the layering of sauce, eggplant and cheese.
- Place the lasagna under the broiler on maximum temperature on the top shelf until golden brown spots start to appear on the mozzarella for about 10 minutes then it’s ready to be served.
Enjoy!
Advanced
Sauce
- Render fat out from bacon, pancetta or any other type of pork fat that we can use as lardon. We can substitute it with a tablespoon of fat or cooking oil, as well. No harm would be done. Add onion, carrot and celery then saute with the bacon on high heat for about 5 minutes until the onion gets a slight translucent/glassy look.
- Add the ground meat. Mix it well with the vegetables then cook it for 10-15 minutes while stirring it often until all the bigger chunks fall into smaller pieces. At this point the beef should lose all its pinkness and browned properly.
- Add the water or wine, tomatoes, salt, black pepper and milk. Mix it well together, put the lid on and simmer it for 4 hours on low heat, stirring occasionally.
- For more detailed instructions for the filling, check out how to make Bolognese sauce a.k.a Ragu. If our patience is wearing thin then use pureed tomato and cook it only for about 30 minutes before getting it ready for layering.
Pasta
- While the sauce is cooking cut the eggplants to about 0.08″ / 2mm thick slices then dry brine them for at least 10 minutes. Place the slices into a greased or parchment papered baking tray so they don’t much cover each other.
- Put them into a 400°F / 200°C preheated oven for about 10 minutes until they get a bit roasted here and there. Depending on the availability of baking sheets and oven capacity we may need to do several batches.
Assembly
- Once the sauce is done divide it into two parts and spread one half onto the bottom of a casserole dish. With more ingredients we can make more layers like in our keto cabbage lasagna or zucchini lasagna.
- Place a layer of eggplants on top.
- Mix basil with oregano and ricotta then spread half of it with half of sliced or grated mozzarella on top. We can also just simply sprinkle the herbs on top of the cheese. Repeat the layering.
- Place the lasagna under the broiler on maximum temperature on the top shelf until golden brown spots start to appear on the mozzarella for about 10 minutes.
Enjoy!
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Eggplant Lasagna Recipe
Is that what we see just a cover of what hides underneath? Make this eggplant lasagna recipe to see what lays underneath the cheese, is real!
Equipment
- 8″ x 8″ / 20.5cm x 20.5cm Casserole dish
Ingredients
Pasta
- 1 lb Eggplant sliced
- 1 tablespoon Salt
Sauce
- 2 medium Onion diced
- 1 lb Ground meat
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ lb Tomato sauce
Layering
- 9 oz Ricotta cheese
- 4 oz Mozzarella cheese sliced or grated
- 1 tablespoon Oregano
- 1 tablespoon Basil
Advanced
Sauce
- 4 oz Bacon or pancetta diced
- 1 Onion diced
- 1 Carrot diced
- 2 Celery stalks diced
- 1 lb Ground beef
- ½ cup Water or white wine
- 2 Tomatoes diced
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 6 piece Black pepper whole
- ½ cup Milk
- Pasta for serving
- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for topping or some other hard Italian cheese
- ½ lb Tomato sauce
Pasta
- 1 lb Eggplant sliced
- 1 tablespoon Salt
Layering
- 9 oz Ricotta cheese
- 4 oz Mozzarella cheese sliced or grated
- 1 tablespoon Oregano
- 1 tablespoon Basil
Instructions
Beginner
Pasta
- Cut the eggplants up to about 0.08″ / 2mm thick slices.
- Add salt and place them into a bowl for at least 10 minutes.
- Place the eggplant slices into a greased or parchment papered baking tray so they don’t much cover each other.
- Put them into a 400°F / 200°C preheated oven for about 10 minutes until they get a bit roasted here and there. Depending on the availability of baking sheets and oven capacity we may need to do several batches.
Sauce
- At the same time we are processing the eggplants pour some oil into a frying pan and saute the diced onion until it gets a glassy / translucent look for about 5 – 10 minutes.
- Add the ground meat and brown it.
- Add the tomato sauce and cook it until the tomato sauce water content reduced about at least a quarter. The whole process should take about 30 minutes.
Assembly
- Once the sauce is done, divide it into two parts and spread one half onto the bottom of a casserole dish. With more ingredients we can make more layers like in our keto cabbage lasagna or zucchini lasagna.
- Place a layer of eggplants on top.
- Mix basil with oregano and ricotta then spread half of it with half of sliced or grated mozzarella on top.
- If we forgot to mix the basil and oregano with the ricotta, just sprinkle it on top and start spreading the other half of the sauce on top.
- Repeat the layering of sauce, eggplant and cheese.
- Place the lasagna under the broiler on maximum temperature on the top shelf until golden brown spots start to appear on the mozzarella for about 10 minutes then it's ready to be served.
Advanced
Sauce
- Render fat out from bacon, pancetta or any other type of pork fat that we can use as lardon. We can substitute it with a tablespoon of fat or cooking oil, as well. No harm would be done. Add onion, carrot and celery then saute with the bacon on high heat for about 5 minutes until the onion gets a slight translucent/glassy look.
- Add the ground meat. Mix it well with the vegetables then cook it for 10-15 minutes while stirring it often until all the bigger chunks fall into smaller pieces. At this point the beef should lose all its pinkness and browned properly.
- Add the water or wine, tomatoes, salt, black pepper and milk. Mix it well together, put the lid on and simmer it for 4 hours on low heat, stirring occasionally.
- For more detailed instructions for the filling, check out how to make Bolognese sauce a.k.a Ragu. If our patience is wearing thin then use pureed tomato and cook it only for about 30 minutes before getting it ready for layering.
Pasta
- While the sauce is cooking cut the eggplants to about 0.08″ / 2mm thick slices then dry brine them for at least 10 minutes. Place the slices into a greased or parchment papered baking tray so they don’t much cover each other.
- Put them into a 400°F / 200°C preheated oven for about 10 minutes until they get a bit roasted here and there. Depending on the availability of baking sheets and oven capacity we may need to do several batches.
Assembly
- Once the sauce is done divide it into two parts and spread one half onto the bottom of a casserole dish. With more ingredients we can make more layers like in our keto cabbage lasagna or zucchini lasagna.
- Place a layer of eggplants on top.
- Mix basil with oregano and ricotta then spread half of it with half of sliced or grated mozzarella on top. We can also just simply sprinkle the herbs on top of the cheese. Repeat the layering.
- Place the lasagna under the broiler on maximum temperature on the top shelf until golden brown spots start to appear on the mozzarella for about 10 minutes.
Notes
Enjoy!
Brilliant mate! Can you use duck or turkey or reindeer meat to?
Gonna go hunting soon and just wondering.
Personally, I can’t recall how does deer taste anymore and wouldn’t waste duck on lasagna but otherwise, yes. If those are your favorite meats and you want to try layered meat nothing should stop you from doing so.