Spinach and Eggplant Lasagna

So I have been into making homemade pasta lately and as you are making it, before you cut it up into shapes you have these long strip......

Each time I make it and it is at this state, I think of how good it would be to have homemade pasta noodles in lasagna! So today I did just that. Here is my recipe for Eggplant and Spinach Lasagna:

Ingredients:

- 1 serving of homemade pasta rolled into strips

- 3/4 cups of ricotta

- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

- 1 cup shredded Asiago cheese

- 1/2 package of frozen spinach

- 1 eggplant

- salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven for 375 degrees

2. Cut up eggplant in slices, place on baking sheets, and sprinkle with salt on both sides.

3. Let them sweat for 15 minutes, then pat dry with a towel.

4. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping over half way through.

5. While eggplant is in the over, follow these directions for making homemade pasta noodles.

6. Boil water and cook noodles for 1 minute. (I did not do this, but would next time around. I thought I could get away with not cooking the noodles since fresh noodles cook so quickly. The noodles inside were done, but the top layer came out crunchy, so better to cook them to an al dente state.)

7. Set noodles aside on a drying rack.

8. Defrost spinach in the microwave as stated on package.

9. In a bowl combine ricotta, Parmesan, and seasonings.

10. Next it is time to construct your layers. In a square casserole dish, start layering ingredients: pasta, cheese mixture, eggplant, Asiago shreds, repeat. I did this three times topping finally with pasta and just shredded cheese.

 

11. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

 

I was pretty happy with how this turned out. When I have made lasagna before I have had a béchamel sauce layer in there as well. I think it was fine without, but would be even better with this included. There is always next time!