Eggplant, Zucchini and Broccoli Lasagna

Love at first sight happens only with a very few things ,it happened with Lasagna I first tasted at a catered lunch at work one day. The silky smooth eggplant flavored with tomatoes and garlic mingled with the taste of pasta appealing even to my tongue used to spicy hot food. Recreating this dish at home has been long time pending.

Making the sauce adds a bit of time to the whole process but well worth the effort for the fresh taste. The amount of cheese added can be controlled so the final product does not look oily and unappealing.

The vegetables were grilled with a just a bit of seasoning. If you are regular reader of this column you would immediately understand that talk of seasoning would definitely involve using sambhar powder :) Baked/broiled the veggies, Zucchini and Eggplant after slicing them thin and slightly seasoning with sambhar powder.

Recipe Consulted: One Hot Stove - Roasted Squash Onion Lasagna

Ingredients
1. 1 Round White Eggplant Slice and sprinkle with salt and let them rest
2. 1 Zucchini sliced
3. 1 small head of broccoli big thicker stems removed and boiled in slightly salted water, remove and lightly pull them apart
4. 4 Roma tomatoes
5. 1 tbsp of tomato paste
6. 5 cloves of garlic chopped fine
7. 3/4 cup of pepper jack cheese + 1 tbsp of shredded cheddar cheese
8. 8 - sheets of no boil Lasagna pasta

Vegetable Layer

Method
Tomato Sauce
1. Heat a sauce pan with water, add the whole tomatoes and boil for a few minutes,
cool remove the skin and crush them and set aside. (Preserve the water in which they were boiled to add to the sauce if required)
2. In a pan heat a tsp of oil and when hot add the garlic and saute till soft (careful to not let them burn)
3.Now add the crushed tomatoes and about 1/4 cup of preserved water
4. Add salt (just a bit, lots of salt comes from the cheese), black pepper and red chili pepper and let boil till desired consistency of sauce is reached no too thick slightly pouring consistency about 10-15 minutes. Set Aside


Grilling Veggies
1. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray, spread the veggies, sprinkle the seasoning and bake/ broil till soft.

Ready for the oven

Lasagna Assembly
1. Spray the baking sheet with cooking spray and pour some sauce on the bottom.
2. Now layer the pasta (dip the pasta in water before layering) add a layer of veggies, pour some sauce.
3. Layer with cheese, repeat, finish with pasta and some sauce and shredded cheese on top.
Cover lid with foil.
4. Preheat oven to 350F and bake for 30 minutes, remove foil and cook for another 10 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes and serve.

Hot from the oven

Well worth the time and effort. Serve hot.