Sunday Dinner: Eggplant Lasagna

In my family, we have this thing called “Sunday Dinner”, which until about a week ago, I thought everyone did or at least everyone knew about. I was wrong. So let me explain. Sunday dinner is what my mother does to only have to cook one meal on Sundays, granted she doesn’t save herself much work since she start cooking it at 9 am, but her usual motto is “I am making one meal, and the rest is on you”. As a good Italian family, our Sunday dinners consist of pasta and sauce, and if Dad is feeling ambitious we have meatballs (which he also starts making at 9). But it is nearly sacrilegious to even consider eating something that isn’t covered in a tomato sauce or is mostly carb based. Even though I am not at home any longer, I still like to have a good hearty Sunday dinner, and this week was an eggplant lasagna. This lasagna is great for people trying to watch their carb intake or those that are gluten free! Although I ate it with some pasta, it is definitely a stand alone item as well. So bring your “family” together, whoever it may be, and enjoy a beautiful Sunday dinner!

Ingredients:

1 eggplant (medium to large)
Italian sauce, at least 3-4 cups
cottage cheese (or ricotta)
shredded mozzarella
grated parmesan

How to:

Begin by peeling your eggplant and then cutting it into 1/2 cm thick slices
Lightly salt and pepper the eggplant and let sit for 10 minutes to draw out some of the moisture.
In a casserole pan. Begin with one thin layer of sauce, then a layer of eggplant.
Then layer with cottage cheese and a little parm, then eggplant.
Then sauce, then eggplant, then more cheese, then eggpant
And you get the idea, continue to do this until your casserole dish is almost full, leaving about an inch from the top so it doesn’t bubble over.
Then top with one last layer of sauce, and then cover in cheese and parm and cover in foil
Bake at 350 for about an hour, until the eggplant is tender (it will be bubbling)
Then take off the tin foil for the last 10 minutes of baking so everything gets golden and melty!
Enjoy over pasta or all on its own! Its also great for lunch the next day!!