Lasagna Notes

The first lasagna that I felt was wholly presentable. Nard status: rocked.

A couple days in advance, I made some vegi red sauce - using my normal method with zucchini, squash and eggplant. There was enough left over that I thought, "I can make a lasagna with this and the leftover eggplant when Mom visits." Good thinking.

I started by sautéing eggplant slices about a quarter inch thick in olive oil. Damn, those things suck it right up! I salted them in the process. If I salted beforehand, dried, and then sautéd, I'd probaby get better results with less oil absorbtion. Interestingly, about 3/4 through the frying process, they gave up a lot of the oil they had previously absorbed...

Next, I sautéd half a red onion in the same pan, continuing to build the fond. After they had browned nicely, I added about 3/4 cup of red wine to deglaze. To this I added about half of a small can of tomato paste to thicken. After the paste was well-integrated, and I judged that most of the alcohol had evaporated, I added the leftover suace, increasing its volume. One this all had heated through, I proceeded to build the lasagna.

A thin layer of sauce
A layer of...
no-boil noodles
dressed-up ricotta
eggplant
noodles
sauce
noodles
sauce
eggplant
noodles
sauce
ricotta dollops
(i think)

Baked for 30-40 minutes, covered. Then 10-20 minutes uncovered to brown top. Oven at 375ºF. Could have baked less covered and browned more.

Too thin. Could have gone up to double the layers if I had the raw materials.