Eggplant Glut – Eggplant Parm Lasagna

Baked Eggplant Slices

As I’ve mentioned before, our CSA has totally gone overboard this year on Eggplants and I’m darn tired of making caponata. So I’ve started scouring Cooking Light, looking for other eggplant dishes. Although, not fall yet, and really not cool outside, I decided to fire up the oven Saturday night and make something rich and gooey – Eggplant Parm Lasagna.

This isn’t an easy dish from the standpoint that there are lots of steps, but in the end, it’s a one casserole meal, so after dinner (assuming you’ve cleaned up along the way), you’re pretty good to go. It also has a really decent serving size – dividing that 9×13 casserole dish into 9 makes for a good-sized portion at 9 Weight Watcher points each. Also, I was concerned about baking the eggplant as opposed to frying it but man, it worked great! This is a definite make again, a good vegetarian option, and I wouldn’t hesitate to make it for company.

Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna

Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna

This dish tastes just like the classic eggplant Parmesan layered between noodles, four cheeses, and tomato sauce.

Ingredients

2 large egg whites
1 large egg
1 (1-pound) eggplant, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
Cooking spray
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
5 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 (15-ounce) carton part-skim ricotta cheese
1 (12-ounce) carton 1% low-fat cottage cheese
1 large egg white
1 (26-ounce) bottle fat-free tomato-basil pasta sauce
12 cooked lasagna noodles

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°.

Combine 2 egg whites and egg in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Dredge 1 eggplant slice in flour. Dip in egg mixture; dredge in breadcrumbs. Repeat procedure with remaining eggplant, flour, egg mixture, and breadcrumbs. Place slices in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat tops of slices with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 20 minutes, turning eggplant after 10 minutes. Remove from baking sheet; cool. Reduce oven temperature to 375°.

Combine 1 cup shredded mozzarella, 3 tablespoons Parmesan, oregano, basil, ricotta, cottage cheese, and 1 egg white in a large bowl.

Spread 1/4 cup pasta sauce in the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 lasagna noodles slightly overlapping over the pasta sauce; top with half of cheese mixture, half of eggplant slices, and 3/4 cup pasta sauce. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread remaining pasta sauce over noodles. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella and 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Cover and bake at 375° for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 35 minutes (mine only baked for 28 minutes) or until cheese melts. Let stand 5 minutes.

Yield: 9 servings

CALORIES 432 (23% from fat); FAT 11g (sat 6.2g,mono 3.1g,poly 0.9g); IRON 3.2mg; CHOLESTEROL 58mg; CALCIUM 460mg; CARBOHYDRATE 53.8g; SODIUM 976mg; PROTEIN 28.3g; FIBER 3.7g

Cooking Light, APRIL 2001