Vegetarian Eggplant Free-Form Lasagne

This Week

9 Dec - 15 Dec

Vegetarian Eggplant Free-Form Lasagne

The perfect lazy mid-week dish! Amp up your veggie quota in this free-form, one-pan vegetarian lasagne – lasagne sheets are simmered in a tomato-based sauce with eggplant, capsicum and zucchini, then topped with your classic white sauce and sprinkle of cheese!

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Meal Prep Guide

The entire dish can be made ahead of time. Simply cook up to step 10 – you can transfer the filling into an oven proof dish before pouring over the white sauce and topping with cheese (store covered in the fridge for up to three days)

Tips

If you are using dried pasta you will only 150g of pasta, break them into pieces so they fit easily in the dish, then simmer to al dente before popping them into the oven. Note you may need to add a little more water to the pan.
The great thing about this dish as it is all cooked in one pan. If you don’t have an oven proof pan or sauté dish then transfer the lasagne filling into a lasagne dish, then pour over the white sauce and cheese.

Shortcuts

Swap white sauce for 250g of ricotta, dollop on the top and scatter over the cheese.

Shortcuts

Other

If you don’t have lasagne sheets you can swap them for pasta shape of choice. Note that you will need to pre cook the pasta.

Ingredients

1 onion (diced)
2 Tbsp fresh mixed herbs (we used oregano, thyme and rosemary)
3 garlic cloves (crushed)
1 capsicum (diced)
1 zucchini (diced)
2 eggplant (roughly chopped into cubes)
5 sun-dried tomatoes (finely chopped)
3 Tbsp tomato paste
400g tin crushed tomatoes
½ cup water (divided)
200g fresh lasagne sheets (torn into pieces)

White sauce

2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
300ml milk
½ cup parmesan cheese (grated)

Topping

1 cup cheddar cheese (grated)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius, fan bake.
Add a little olive oil to a large heavy-based pan/ sauté dish over medium heat, then add the onion, mixed herbs, salt and pepper. Sauté for 5-10 minutes or until soft and translucent, then add the garlic, capsicum and zucchini; sauté for another 5 minutes.
Add a little more olive oil to the pan and then add the eggplant and ¼ cup of water, then pop on the lid and allow the eggplant to cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the eggplant has softened and reduced in size, add the sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes and ¼ cup of water, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, pop on the lid and allow to cook for 15-20 minutes.
Remove the lid then nestle in the torn lasagne sheets and allow them to soften while you prepare the white sauce.
Add butter to a medium pot over medium-low heat. Once melted, add the flour and mix to combine (a crumbly play dough texture will form), cook for 1 minute.
Pour in ½ the milk, whisking as you pour. Once combined, add the remaining milk and whisk until smooth and lump-free.
Increase the heat to medium-high and allow the sauce to thicken, this will take about 5 minutes. Stir often while the sauce thickens to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Remove from heat and add the parmesan, salt and pepper; mix until the cheese has melted.
Pour the white sauce over the lasagne filling, then top with the cheddar cheese.
Pop into the oven and cook for 35-40 minutes or until bubbling and golden brown on top.