The Perfect Evening.

I have been throwing out the word 'perfect' quite a bit lately. It's on the subtitle to my blog, I say it out loud when things go right, and quite honestly, this word feels perfect to say.

Now the word perfect to me means everything is going right, whether a recipe turned out better than expected (like this evening), a day of work was more fun than work (which happens frequently), or I have ideas and thoughts that make me happy, and thus have been perfected a bit more each day.

Tonight's perfect is a package deal: A day of work that ended by 2 p.m., an impromptu stop at the Delta Farmer's Market (which only happens on Wednesday's) and a true find of perfect eggplants (and beets for future recipes), a great connection with a Delta employee (hopefully I hear back from this lady!), a quick stop at the grocery store for more ingredients after deciding eggplant lasagna is happening, and finally, an early evening of Dolly Parton, Trader Joes's Chardonnay, cooking, baking, and chatting with friends. Perfect.

Eggplant Lasagna. I have never tried eggplant in my life. I have always, ALWAYS, been curious about this vegetable. I really want to grow this in my garden, but hesitated this year because I had no idea what this tasted like. My best description of raw eggplant is the similarity to a fresh green bean out of the garden. A bit woody, a bit barky/planty, but fresh and firm. You could use any dip, my choice lately, has been balsamic vinaigrette, which would be perfect after soaking into the flesh after a few minutes. That will have to be tomorrow's snack, as indeed I bought two eggplants.

Tonight's meal: Eggplant Lasagna. I 'googled' recipes while in the Rainbow parking lot as I have never made lasagna before. I knew I wanted to still use noodles in addition to eggplant. The solution is the following, a combination of two recipes:

Ingredients:

One medium eggplant
2 tbsp Olive Oil
9 lasagna noodles
1 - 15 oz container of Ricotta Cheese- Part Skim
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
5 tbsp grated Parmesan
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 can spaghetti sauce - tomato/basil

Eggplant preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Prepare cookie sheet with parchment paper and a drizzle of olive oil over the entire sheet.
3. Wash and cut eggplant into 1/4" lengthwise strips and place on cookie sheet, flipping eggplant to cover with olive oil. Use only the insides of the eggplant (softer/fleshy) and discard outer peeling segments. In total, I had six slices, three for each layer.
4. Cook eggplant for 20 minutes, flipping at the end to make sure both sides are starting to caramelize.
5. Take out of oven and set aside until ready to place into lasagna pan.

Noodle preparation:
There are two types of lasagna to use. Noodles that you must cook before baking, and the new creation, noodles that do not need to be cooked prior. I used one layer of noodles that I cooked first (salted pot of water, about 5 minutes), and two layers of noodles that did not need to be cooked prior (I would always use this method in the future, saves time!). And I could not taste any difference in the end.
1. Cook noodles according to package IF you have the must boil first type.
2. No need to cook noodles if using the quick and easy, no cook noodles.

Cheesy Filling preparation:
1. Mix together  1 container (15 oz) of ricotta cheese, part-skim, 1 cup shredded mozzarella, 3 tbsp grated Parmesan, 1 tsp dried basil, and 1 tsp dried oregano in a bowl and sit aside until ready to start layering.

Tomato Sauce preparation:
1. I used a canned spaghetti sauce jar of tomato and basil. Some day, I hope to use home-made sauce, but for now, this turned out perfect and saved a lot of time.

Layering (Lasagna has SO many steps):

1. Put 1/4 cup of canned sauce onto bottom of a well greased (cooking spray) 9"x15" pan.
2. Set lasagna noodles on top of sauce (I used three noodles sheets) barely overlapping as they expand while cooking.
3. Spread 1/2 of cheesy filing on top of noodles (this is tricky, use spatula and be patient)
4. Add layer of eggplant slices using three eggplant slices (half the plant)
5. Add 3/4 cup of canned sauce over eggplant slices.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 once more. Making sure to end with lasagna noodles on top.
7. Spread the rest of the canned sauce on top of noodles, sprinkle with one more cup of mozzarella and 2 tbsp of Parmesan.
8. Cover with tin foil and cook for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
9. Uncover foil after 30 minutes and allow to cook for 10 more minutes until all cheese on top is melted and starting to bubbly. This means your lasagna is done! 01 02 03

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