Recipes

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

Tomato Sauce:

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 T olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 t kosher salt

2 T red wine (Sangiovese)

1 t sugar

¼ t red pepper flakes

2 T chopped fresh basil

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, salt, wine, sugar and red pepper flakes and turn down heat to simmer for 15-20 minutes, letting it reduce a bit. Take off heat and stir in basil. Set aside.

Vegetable filling:

1 ½ lbs eggplant, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

1 lb zucchini, cut into ½ inch rounds

1 lb yellow squash, cut into ½ rounds

5 tablespoons olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 T minced fresh thyme or 1 t dried

½ t kosher salt

½ t freshly ground black pepper

12 oz baby spinach

Toss eggplant cubes with 1 teaspoon salt. Arrange on a platter lined with paper towels on top and bottlom, weighting the top with another platter. After 10 minutes, remove platter and pour cubes into a bowl and add zucchini and yellow squash. In a small bowl combine 1 tablespoon olive oil, the garlic and thyme. In a large skillet, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat on medium-high. Add half of eggplant mixture along with ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper and cook, stirring until vegetables are lightly browned. Take out vegetables and repeat for the other half. Once browned, push vegetables to corner of pan, add garlic/thyme mixture and sauté for 30 seconds and then mix in with vegetables. Add to first batch of vegetables, stirring to combine. In the same skillet, return to heat and add spinach and sauté, stirring frequently, until wilted. Pour spinach out onto a platter lined with paper towels to drain. Stir into eggplant mixture. Set aside.

Ricotta filling:

15 oz low-fat ricotta cheese

1 egg

4 oz finely grated parmesan cheese

2 T chopped Italian parsley

1 garlic clove, minced

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Other ingredients:

12 no-boil (Barilla brand) lasagna noodles

½ cup minced kalamata olives

12 oz low fat mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 T chopped fresh basil

Preparation

Put together the lasagna: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce in bottom of baking dish; put 4 noodles on top of sauce-they should fit in bottom of pan nicely. Spread half of vegetable mixture over noodles, followed by half of the olives, half of ricotta filling, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. Repeat layering of 4 more noodles followed by 1 cup of tomato sauce, remaining vegetables, olives, ricotta filling and 1 cup of mozzarella. Place the last 4 noodles on top layer of cheese. Spread remaining tomato sauce over noodles and sprinkle the rest of the cheese.  Lightly spray a large sheet of aluminum foil with cooking spray and cover lasagna. Bake until bubbling through, between 35-40 minutes. Cool on rack for 20-25 minutes. Cut into pieces and sprinkle with choppedbasil.