This eggplant and zucchini no pasta lasagne is a great twist on a classic lasagne. It is perfect to enjoy for dinner or take for lunch the next day!
What’s great about this lasagne?
- It is full of beautiful vegetables including eggplant and zucchini, as well as broccoli and spinach. If you have children, this might be the perfect way to sneak in those extra vegetables!
- Perfect for dairy free diets – The homemade ricotta takes about 5 minutes to whip up and is a great alternative to store brought ricotta.
- Suitable for people with celiacs disease – There are no pasta sheets used in this recipe which means that people with celiacs disease or with a gluten sensitivity can enjoy it too!
- Makes for a great lunch the next day – If you have any leftovers, just put it in a container and take it for lunch the next day. In my experience, lasagne only gets better with time (up to a certain point).
Can I use real ricotta?
Absolutely! Although I haven’t tried making this recipe with real ricotta, I’m sure that you could use it. If it were me, I would leave out the tofu, milk and nutritional yeast. Otherwise, I would follow the recipe and taste to make sure you like it.
What if I’m not vegetarian?
In the red sauce I used finely chopped broccoli as a substitute for meat. However, I think you could substitute it for beef mince. I haven’t tried this but I’d say about 300-400grams of beef mince should be able to substitute the 2 cups of broccoli. This might require adjusting the seasonings though so you’ll have to give it a taste test. Let me know if you’ve tried this!
Like this eggplant and zucchini no pasta lasagne?
If you made this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #fiveelementswithanna on Instagram!
Eggplant and Zucchini No Pasta Lasagne
Ingredients
- 2 medium Eggplants (cut lengthwise)
- 1 large Zucchini (cut lengthwise)
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
Red sauce
- 3 Tbsp Olive oil
- 2 medium Brown onion (finely diced)
- 4 cloves Garlic (minced)
- 2 cups Broccoli (very finely diced into crumbs)
- 1 tsp Paprika powder
- 2 Tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp Mixed herbs
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1 1/2 cup Water
Spinach ricotta
- 4 handfuls Spinach
- 400 gram Firm tofu
- 1 cup Rice milk (or any non-dairy milk)
- 3 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
- 2 Tbsp Lemon juice
- 2 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 175°C. Put the sliced eggplants and zucchini on two large baking trays lined with baking paper. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with pepper. Put in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Heat a large non-stick frying pan on high heat. Add the olive oil, onions and garlic and sauté for 6-8 minutes. Make a tomato based sauce by adding the tomato paste, mixed herbs, salt and water to a bowl and set aside for now. Add the broccoli and the ends of the eggplants to a food processor and pulse until the mixture has a bread crumb consistency (if you don’t have a food processor you can cut it but make sure it if very finely diced).
- Add the broccoli mix to the frying pan and cook for 2 minutes. Add the paprika powder and stir then add the tomato sauce and mix well. Cook for another 2 or so minutes until all the flavours are incorporated. Do another taste test and if you’re happy, turn off the heat and set this aside in a large bowl. Don’t wash the frying pan.
- In the same frying pan add the spinach and a drizzle of olive oil until and cook the spinach until it has wilted and reduced significantly in size. Set aside. Add the remaining ricotta ingredients (tofu, rice milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and salt) to a blender or food processor and pulse until it becomes creamy but remains thick. Transfer the ‘ricotta’ cheese to a large bowl and add the wilted spinach. Mix well and set aside.
- Now the fun part, it’s time to assemble the lasagne. In a baking dish add a ladle full of the red sauce and spread it at the bottom of the pan. You don’t need much, just enough to prevent the eggplant layer from sticking to the bottom. Add half of the sliced eggplants and cover with a third of the red sauce. Add half of the ricotta cheese and repeat this process one more time (+ eggplant + red sauce + ricotta cheese). On the last layer of ricotta cheese, arrange the sliced zucchini in a roughly even layer. Spread the remaining red sauce on the top and put the dish into the oven. Bake the lasagne for 20 minutes at 175°C. As hard as it is to resist, allow it to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving.
