Cheesy Eggplant Parmigiana Lasagna

Hungry? I hope so. Because we're talking rich here.



We're talking two weeks of grocery budget rich (in both senses).



We're talking four different kinds of cheeses, plus yogurt, plus fried eggplant.



And smokin' homemade marinara. Remember this marinara? I like to think we made it together.



I knew I would be out of town for about two weeks, and I really wanted to make something my husband could heat up and enjoy, something that was big and gooey and would last.



Something carby, and tasty, something he would actually want to eat, that would fill up all 6'4" of him. Something to keep him away from the boxes of mac n cheese. Otherwise it would just be kraft, canned chili and chips for two weeks.



So I made this lasagna, adopted from Chef Dennis' food blog (yet again!).



My plan failed though. This lasagna only lasted about two days. Sorry honey.



Couple more things to know: the best thing about this lasagna is that it actually contains breaded eggplant, eggplant parmigiana if you will, in the bottom layer. You will not see that in this picture though. It is a bad time of year for eggplants, and my market didn't have them. I thought I'd try mushrooms.

Then I remembered my husband dislikes mushrooms (gasp! I know). So. This particular lasagna doesn't have anything breaded in it.



But you can imagine what it would be like if it did, right? Me too. You should do it.



Last of all: put something green in it. The official recipe calls for broccoli raab. Again, bad time of year (at least at my market). There are other greens just coming in though. Spinach would be nice, I think.



Anyway. Even without the layer of fried vegetables and the layer of greens, it was amazing. I recommend it ever so highly.

Chef Dennis' Lasagna
(this will make a 13 x 9 inch baking pan of lasagna)

12 pasta sheets or a box and a half of dry noodles (do not cook beforehand!)
32 oz ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
3/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Large eggplant sliced into 1/4 inch cutlets, breaded, pan fried and drained
2 bunches broccoli rabe cooked, drained and seasoned
1 qt marinara sauce
16 oz shredded mozzarella
12 oz Plain Low fat yogurt (Greek works best but any will do!)
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

Let's start by getting our cheese mixture together, this is of course assuming you have your marinara ready. Mix your ricotta, grated Romano cheese, eggs, sugar and pepper together and place in the refrigerator until needed.

Now prepare your yogurt sauce. Mix the yogurt with 1/4 cup of Romano cheese and 1/4 cup of milk , blend well, if it looks too thick add a little more milk.

Prep your eggplant cutlets, peel them down, and start with a coating of flour, then an egg wash, and then seasoned bread crumbs. Pan fry the cutlets in olive oil 'til golden brown and drain on paper towels.

Begin by adding some sauce to the bottom of the baking dish, then a layer of noodles.
Add your breaded eggplant, a layer of sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese and a layer of noodles. Add a little sauce on top of the noodles then use half of your ricotta cheese mixture, a little more sauce and another layer of noodles.

Now add the remaining ricotta cheese mixture, top with your broccoli rabe and finish with the yogurt sauce.

Top with one more layer of noodles, marinara sauce and finish with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. Make sure you allow the Lasagna to sit for at least 10 minutes before slicing it.