Recipe: Delicious Eggplant and Meatball Lasagna

Eggplant and Meatball Lasagna. Now salt the eggplant slices on both sides set in a bowl to drain the liquids. Doing this take all or most of the bitterness out of the eggplant slices. After an hour drain the liquids off and they are ready to use.

Admittedly, it made it look a bit like enchiladas but it worked for us. Coat the bottom of the pan you are using with tomato sauce before adding more layers. Layer eggplant, then meat, then eggplant, and then cheese. You can have Eggplant and Meatball Lasagna using 17 ingredients and 8 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Eggplant and Meatball Lasagna

You need of Eggplant pasta replacement.
It's of medium sized aubergine/ eggplants.
Prepare of salt.
Prepare of extra virgin olive oil.
Prepare of Meatballs and sauce.
You need of beef meatballs.
Prepare of Mids Italian sausage pasta sauce.
Prepare of water to get and use all the sauce out of jar.
You need of concentrated tomato paste.
You need of pesto see my recipe walnut pesto.
You need of ground sirloin.
You need of granulated garlic powder.
Prepare of grated Parmesan cheese.
Prepare of salt.
You need of ground white pepper.
It's of Cheese.
You need of extra sharp cheddar cheese shredded divided.

Spread with ⅓ of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with ¼ of mozzarella cheese slices. Repeat layering two more times to create three complete layers. Brush each slice of eggplant with olive oil on both sides and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Eggplant and Meatball Lasagna step by step

Peel the eggplant and cut one side to make flat surface. This will stabilize your eggplant when you slice it. Slice the eggplant thinly..
Now salt the eggplant slices on both sides set in a bowl to drain the liquids. Doing this take all or most of the bitterness out of the eggplant slices. After an hour drain the liquids off and they are ready to use. The last picture on this step is the bitter liquids pulled out by the salt. I had about 1/2 cup total, on second draining..
Cut the meatballs in half set aside. I usually keep meatballs in my freezer. See any of my recipes for meatballs. Shred the cheese, and set aside. When you pour the Mid's sauce in add a little water to the jar to get the rest out of jar..
Preheat oven to 400°Fahrenheit heat the meatballs in a good sized pan. When browned remove and set aside. Add the Mids Italian sausage sauce to the pan then put in the ground sirloin. Bring to a simmer 20 minutes and stir in the tomato paste. Add the parmesan cheese. Stir in well..
Add the olive oil to the eggplant. Cook on a cooking surface. Turn as needed. In a baking pan add some of the eggplant. I used a spring form pan..
Add some of the meatballs cut side down. Cover the meatballs with half the sauce. Now add the pesto on top of sauce..
Repeat the the same layers except you shouldn't have pesto on second layer. Add the shredded cheese on top. Put into the oven for 45 minutes..
Take out of oven and let rest 15 minutes. Serve I hope you enjoy!!!!.

In a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta, Parmesan and basil. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated. Pour a little bit of the pasta red sauce on the bottom (about ½ cup) and spread it. Top with the mozzarella and remaining ¼ cup Parmesan. Top with one-third tomato sauce mixture and half of eggplant.