Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Ladies’ Home Journal Family Favorites Cookbook, p. 15

6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

3 lbs plum tomatoes, halved

4 ½ teaspoons chopped rosemary

1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes in thick puree

14 oz white mushrooms, sliced

10 oz small cremini mushrooms, quartered

1 ¾ lbs eggplant, cut lengthwise into ¼-inch-thick slices

¾ cup part-skim ricotta

2 large egg whites

12 no-boil lasagna sheets

6 oz zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 425F. Coat a large shallow baking pan with cooking spray. Wrap garlic in foil and place in one corner of pan. Arrange plum tomatoes, cut sides up, in same pan; season with pepper. Roast, without turning, 30 minutes. Unwrap garlic, peel; transfer to a food processor. Add tomatoes and 2 ½ teaspoons rosemary; pulse until tomatoes are chopped. 

My food processor is really small, so rather than take the time for multiple batches I just did this with an immersion blender. It was messy, but it got the job done really quickly.

Transfer to saucepan; stir in crushed tomatoes. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced to 6 ¾ cups. Remove from heat; keep warm.

Coat another large baking pan. Arrange mushrooms in pan and roast, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Let cool in pan.

Preheat broiler and arrange rack 5 inches from heat. Coat a large baking pan with cooking spray. Arrange half of eggplant slices, in a single layer, in pan and season with pepper. Broil, turning once, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining eggplant. Stir together ricotta, egg whites and remaining 2 teaspoons rosemary in a bowl; season with pepper.

Preheat oven to 375F. Coat a 13x9x2-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1 ½ cups sauce in bottom; cover with 4 lasagna sheets. Spread with ricotta; top with half of mushrooms. 

Mushrooms make everything better.

Cover with half of eggplant slices; spread with 1 ½ cups sauce. Continue layering. Cover with remaining lasagna sheets; top with remaining sauce. Arrange zucchini slices over top. 

Gotta accessorize to complete the look!

Cover and bake 40 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle cheese. Bake 15 more minutes. Let stand 20 minutes.

It's gorgeous when it's done.

My Rating: 3/5 "This is a great recipe for doing some angst-chopping. If you've got stress to work out this lasagna's in your corner. That said, because of all that chopping this takes a very long time to prepare; give yourself some wiggle room for it. It's really healthy and really low-calorie, but it doesn't have a ton of flavor. My husband rejected it outright, calling it 'a watery shadow of lasagna.' I thought it was pleasant, but it's nothing to write home about other than the nice rosemary accents. So it's fun and healthy, but time-consuming and bland. Cut your losses where you will."