No-Fry Eggplant Parm/Lasagna

I've been eating carb free for the past 2 weeks and it's going well, but I've been running out of things to eat.

So I figured I could make eggplant parm, and just not fry the eggplant. I was afraid it would work because the eggplant would be too flimsy to keep together, but it worked out great. I do have to say I added some ground turkey to it to bind it together, so the eggplant worked like lasagna.




So here's what I did.

Ingredients.

1lb Ground Turkey
1/2 chopped onion
1 clove of chopped garlic
tbsp of dry basil (to taste)
tbsp of dry oregano (to taste)
2tbsp of EVOO
1 24oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 large eggplant
4 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1/2 bag)
1 cup of ricotta cheese

Instructions:

Brown turkey, onions, garlic, basil, oregano in EVOO until cooked. After the meat is cooked add the can of tomatoes, all but about a tbsp left in the bottom....save that.

While browning meat slice with a mandolin (if you have one)the eggplant. I cut it in 1/2 length wise 1st, it's easier to slice. use the thinest setting. (If you want the bitterness out of the eggplant place them after they're sliced and cover them with a little salt....trust me it helps.)

Take the little bit of tomatoes in the bottom of the can and add about 1/3 to 1/2 of the can with warm water and add to the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. It doesn't have to be a lot of water in the bottom of the pan, just enough to cover it.

Add a layer of sliced eggplant to the bottom of the pan untill you don't see any pan left.

Next take the ground turkey and sauce and completely cover the eggplant.

Next take the ricotta cheese (you can add alittle basil to this for flavor, I did, I also added a little dry garlic powder as well)

Drop about 10 or 12 blobs of cheese all over the meat and sauce and spread it into the meat so it's even. Add some mozz cheese to the top of the meat and ricotta cheese mixture.

Next add another layer of eggplant and a little more mozz chesse to cover it.

It's all put together now, cover with foil and bake at 350 for about an hour. After hour uncover let bake for another 5 or 10 minutes to brown the top of the cheese.

I would let it sit about 15 minutes to set up a little before eating.

It came out really good, and it's something I will totally make again.