Open lasagne

Serves:

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 500g eggplant, sliced 1cm thick
• 500g sweet potato, peeled, sliced 1cm thick
• 2 red capsicums
• 375 packet fresh lasagne sheets
• 500g low-fat ricotta cheese
• 12 cherry or baby roma tomatoes
• ½ cup chopped basil leaves
• 4 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place eggplant slices in a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave for 30 minutes. Line two baking trays with baking paper. Place sweet potato rounds on one tray and brush with olive oil. Rinse eggplants, pat dry, place on second tray and brush with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes until soft – the sweet potato may need 30 minutes.

While the vegetables are roasting, slice capsicums from stem into 4 flat ‘sheets’. Grill until skin is black, place in a plastic bag and set aside until cooled completely. When cool, remove and discard charred skin.

Use scissors to cut each lasagne sheet into 3 equal size pieces, about 10cm x 16cm. Place lasagne sheets in a large pan of boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes or until al dente (even though the packet may say no pre-cooking required!). Transfer to a bowl of cold water to stop lasagne cooking, then drain on a tea towel.

Build the lasagne on one or two large baking trays lines with baking paper. Place 6 sheets of lasagne on the tray. Layer the eggplant on top, then add another layer of lasagne. Top with sweet potato, spread with half the ricotta. Add another layer of lasagne, followed by the roasted capsicum, then the remaining ricotta and finally a layer of lasagne. Brush the tops of the lasagne sheets with olive oil. Cover the whole tray loosely with foil, place in the oven and heat for 10 minutes. The lasagne should be eaten warm, not hot. Use a spatula or fish slice to place each lasagne on a serving plate (not as tricky as it sounds), sprinkle with tomatoes, basil and parmesan.

Notes:

• This is really quite easy to make, just roast the vegies early in the day and then assembling takes just a few minutes.
• To make this more kid-friendly, roast vegies that your kids will eat and make smaller squares. And smother it with tomato sauce…
• I made this a fairly plain recipe (my husband confirmed that it tasted ‘healthy’!), so if you like a bit more flavour, add more parmesan, salt, pepper, chopped herbs and maybe crushed garlic to the ricotta.

Serving Suggestions

Note