A Personal Culinary Triumph

A few days ago I tried the (out of season) squash-as-spaghetti-noodles trick with a homemade tomato sauce. Delicious! Definitely added to my regular life repertoire. However, it whet my appetite for something bigger, more gourmet: LASAGNA!

Behold the noodleless-less, cheese-less, meat-less lasagna!

Wait a minute, that doesn't sound like much fun! I assure you, to a pescatarian PCP girl who can't eat cheese and isn't allowed any dinner carbs, it is the height of tasty goodness. My cheese and meat-eating dinner companions agreed. All of us had seconds.

I got the idea from this recipe on the Houseboat Eats blog, and I ran with it, coming up with my own tomato sauce and modifying a fake cheese recipe I found from the New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook.

Eggplant-noodle Lasagna

2 eggplants

salt (don't worry, we're going to wash it off)

fresh spinach

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice eggplant lengthwise into thin sheets (about 1/8 inch if possible). Place in single layer on baking sheets and generously sprinkle with salt on both sides. Let sit for 30 minutes or so to draw out moisture (so lasagna won't be too soupy). Rinse eggplant thoroughly and use your fingers to squeegee off excess water. Lay out a kitchen towel and place eggplant in single layer on towel. Cover with another towel and pat dry. Set aside till you're ready to use it.

For sauce:

1 tsp or less of olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced (or however much you like)

1 can no-salt-added tomato sauce

fresh tomatoes, chopped (I used 2 heirloom because they were nice and squishy)

fresh mushrooms, chopped (I went with Maitake—yum!)

oregano

thyme

pepper

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add mushrooms and saute a few more minutes. Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, oregano, thyme, pepper, and whatever other seasonings you wish. Simmer. If it's too watery, you can add some cornstarch to thicken.

For cheese:

1/2 c nutritional yeast flakes

1/2 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 c water

1 tsp wet mustard

Mix dry ingredients in sauce pan. Whisk in water. Cook over medium heat, whisking, until it thickens and bubbles. Cook 30 seconds more, then remove from heat and whip in mustard. It will thicken as it cools. Makes about 3 cups.

For lasagna:

Place single layer of eggplant on bottom of casserole plan. Top with cheese, then add a layer of spinach and top with sauce. Repeat till you run out of ingredients or room in the pan! Eggplant should be the last layer. Top with tomato sauce. Bake for 30 minutes or so. Enjoy!

Mine came out a bit soupy (the sauce), but it was delicious nonetheless. Non-PCPers may want to add a little salt to the sauce, and by all means, if you're not lactose intolerant, use real cheese! This recipe might be interesting with layers of smoked salmon where ham might be used, but I'm pretty sure that's against the rules right now . . .

Aside: watching the salt draw moisture out of the veggies is an advertisement not to eat salt if I ever saw one.

Double aside: I realized once it was too late, that the flour in the fake cheese actually did mean I was eating some dinner carbs, but I'm not splitting hairs here . . .