Kinda lasagna, nearly ratatouille

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Aug 21st 2007 @ 10:12AM

Sunday night I pulled together an improvised baked veggie dish that took inspiration from ratatouille and the lasagna that my mom used to make when I was little. I thinly sliced half of a sizable zucchini, along with an eggplant that had been withering away in my fridge for the last week. I threw together a quick tomato sauce with several bruised tomatoes (I inadvertently squished half of my farmers market haul on the way home), a can of San Marzano tomatoes, a bunch of crushed garlic and a few minced shallots. Oh, and at the last minute I tossed a handful of chopped basil in to give it another hit of flavor and aroma.

I put down one layer of the sliced zucchini and eggplant on the bottom of a glass baking dish. Then spooned a layer of ricotta cheese down and poured half the tomato sauce down on top of that. A second layer of zucchini and eggplant when down, along with the other half of the sauce. This was the moment at which I dearly wished I had used a slightly deeper baking dish, as I was right at the edge. I covered it with tin foil and baked it at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

photo by Marisa McClellan

When it the veggies yielded easily to a fork prod, I put down a layer of fresh mozzarella slices (purchased several weeks ago and kept in the freezer. It's a beautiful thing when pricey ingredients like that don't have to go to waste) and flipped the switch to broil for a few minutes, in order to get a nice, bubbly top.

In addition to using a deeper pan, next time I make this, I'm going to cook the sauce down a little more, as it was REALLY juicy. Those are small issues, because in terms of flavor, this dish is a powerhouse that happily improves in the fridge overnight.

Filed Under: Real Kitchens, Ingredients, Methods
Tags: america, baking, casserole, dairy, dinner, eggplant, faux ratatouille, real kitchens, vegetables, veggie lasagna, zucchini, cheese

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-21-2007 @11:37AM eva said... Oh, joy, baked veggies and tomato sauce and cheese! Maybe instead of a deeper pan you can just use a wider, longer pan--that way you'd end up with more surface area for evaporation PLUS more square inchage of bubbly browned mozzarella.
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8-21-2007 @1:15PM Peter said... Nice! I make a nearly identical dish with either eggplant or zucchini which I creatively call either "Eggplant Lasagna" or "Zucchini Lasagna". ;) Although I prefer this dish made with eggplant as the zucchini is just too watery to cook down properly, the eggplant tends to soak in the sauce and yes, this dish is best served after a 2nd reheat so the flavors have had time to mingle.

A technique that you might want to try next time is to first lightly salt the veggie slices and then layer them between paper towels on a plate with a heavy object on top (ie: large can of tomatoes). I let this sit for about 1-2 hours to help pull out the extra water from the veggies, but from my experience, this really works best with eggplant more so than zucchini. I then lightly fry the veggie slices in grapeseed oil to even further pull out extra moisture and add a bit of roasted flavor, let the veggie slices cool for 20-30 mins and then build the lasagna.

Heck, even the veggie adverse kids loved this dish. :)
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8-21-2007 @3:13PM MJ said... Im funny about lasagna..I make it in a big pot in stead of layered and finish in the oven topped with cheese! Short noodles!
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8-21-2007 @4:10PM Suzana said... this sounds really great especially w/o the noodles, for those of us who are diabetic or anyone else who needs to watch their carb intake.
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