Roasted Eggplant and Chicken Lasagna

Helga Glaesel de BlandingMarch 29, 2016

This post is also available in / Esta entrada también está disponible en ESPAÑOL (SPANISH)

I found this recipe by chance, browsing through social media, it’s from an excellent Guatemalan site called Enmicasa.com, and Guatemalan readers surely know it and its wide range of household content, aside from cooking. I skimmed through the procedure to see if it made the cut for my Monday cooking recipes, and it seemed like an easy enough recipe so I tried it, with a few tweaks. I have tried to make vegetarian meals before, without great reviews. I am always asked –Where is the meat?!–, so I added a couple of cooked chicken breasts to this recipe to be able to answer – There it is!–. To be honest, we eat meat at home and we like it, why deny it. Writing this post reminded me of this scene from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which we often quote with my friends:

The original recipe asks to roast all the vegetables together, but I prefer to do it only for the zucchini and eggplants because of the available space I have in my cooking trays. The two I have that fit together inside the oven don’t have enough space to roast everything together, and actually have the vegetables roast, not just cook and steam. You need to give vegetables room to roast properly. I loved the recipe, and I think a green salad is the perfect pairing. Next time I make this, I might add some mushrooms or asparagus, if they are in season.

Helga

Roasted Eggplant and Chicken Lasagna

Recipe adapted from enmicasa.com
Yields: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
4 small eggplants, sliced horizontally
3 zucchinis, cubed
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 cups cherry tomatoes
½ lb shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
¼ cup olive oil
fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste.

Procedure:

Pre-heat oven to 375ºF. Place the eggplants and zucchini on a cookie sheet, add olive oil to cover the vegetables well, and season with salt and pepper. Roast until vegetables are lightly golden, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium pan, sauté the onions, garlic and cherry tomatoes until the onions start to caramelize and the tomato skins start to char slightly. Season with salt and pepper.
In a baking dish, or pyrex mold layer the vegetables alternating with the chicken, cheese and basil. At the end, sprinkle the parmesan cheese. Bake for 15 minutes until the cheese has melted and the top layer starts to get a golden brown color.