Friend of Julie: Eggplant Lasagna

This recipe and post comes from our key friend Momomig who felt the need to contribute a recipe. Momomig says she's been working on adding to her repertoire of side dishes for her summertime grilling and making chicken, steak, chops, and burgers on the grill. She found this  Eggplant Lasagna is a welcomed ready-made side dish.

Keep in mind that they layers are THIN!!! This is the trick. Very little of anything at one time!

Peel a large eggplant and slice lengthwise as thinly as possible. Layer the slices on salted paper towels in a baking dish.

Layer: paper towel, salt, eggplant, salt, paper towel eggplant, etc.

Place a smaller baking dish on top and weigh it down with canned and bottled goods. Wait 20-30 minutes.

Remove each slice of eggplant and wipe any salt/liquid off. Dip into a shallow dish of egg beaters (or beaten egg), then into a shallow dish of finely grated Parmesan and/or Romano.

Shake off all excess - this is important!. Set aside until all slices are coated.

Heat olive oil in a skillet and begin to brown the eggplant in the pan. As each eggplant are finished cooking, place onto paper towels and blot.

Take a small amount of tomato sauce (I use Prego) and place a thin coating on a baking dish.

Place a layer of fried eggplant.

Put the THINNEST POSSIBLE slice of mozzarella from the deli on top and then a thin layer of tomato sauce, then the thinnest possible layer of ricotta cheese* thinned to spreading consistency (like warm peanut butter) with egg beaters, and then continue the layers. If done correctly, the eggplant is the star, and the cheese is secondary.

*I used the cottage cheese with egg instead of ricotta. Perfect. I beat the two together, to make the same consistency as ricotta. I used a whisk and I used a hand mixer. Hand mixer works best. Adding extra egg to the CC makes a very spreadable consistency that allows for extra thin layers.

This recipe is divine, and the thinner the layers, the better!

NOTES

About the cheese...I tried the lasagna without the mozzarella, and it was just as good. If you are even concerned about the Parmesan/Romano you can simply fry the eggplant until lightly browned. You may want to leave a bit of the salt on the eggplant, as the cheeses tend to add some flavor.

About the tomato sauce...you can use a tomato sauce with salt. Because of dietary restrictions, I use the Heart Smart Prego sauce, but a more flavorful sauce would help without the cheese.

About adjusting this recipe...I've made this recipe at least 4 ways:

1. with cheeses
2. without cheeses
3. with only the Parmesan to create a "bread-like" consistency on the eggplant
4. with cottage cheese and egg

I also made a version where I added a layer of grilled hamburger patties. It was gone in 2 days!

Suffice to say that there is really no wrong way to make this. For some reason, the eggplant takes on the consistency of noodles, and so long as you keep the liquid down, and the layers very thin, it seems to be foolproof.