L.A. Veggie Enchilada-Lasagna.

This is an easy recipe I made up last Monday. Over the weekend I'd bought tons of veggies, very determined to eat veg-heavy during the week. This dish turned out perfect because it's healthy but rich and satisfying for a quick meal. It was sooo delish, I ate it for dinner almost every night last week. It makes a huge pan so for one girl, well ... it was a lot of veggie bake. It's actually like a hybrid of lasagna and enchiladas. Yum! Here we go ...

Serves 6-8 people or 1-2 for a week!
Start to finish time: 1:15 with five minutes used to crack a bottle of vino and pour a glass ;)

Ingredients

salt (fresh ground sea salt is best)
pepper (fresh ground is best)
1 large egg plant - sliced into 1/3" thick rounds
olive oil
1 sweet potato - peeled and sliced into 1/3" thick rounds
1 medium onion - chopped
2 T red white or balsamic vinegar
1-2 jalapenos - seeded and diced
1 small head broccoli - roughly chopped
1 T Turmeric (optional)
4 corn tortillas - sliced into inch wide strips
1 large jar or 2 1/2 cups marinara sauce
2 slices smoked Gouda cheese (you can substitute your favorite cheese but I recommend choosing one with a bit stronger flavor than mozzarella)
3/4 cup Gorgonzola cheese - crumbled (optional ... but so GOOD)

FYI - you can add any other veggies you want to ... just slice them thin enough or dice them small enough so they all cook at the same time. Spinach, mushrooms, squash, would all be great!

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 400

- Spray a 9X13 in baking pan (I like glass) with cooking spray or line it with tin foil and spray that for easy cleanup.

- Dissolve 1T salt into medium bowl of cold water and add eggplant slices for 20minutes; drain and set aside.

- In large oiled frying pan over medium-high heat, saute the onions and red wine; about 3-5 minutes; set aside.

- Place eggplant slices on cookie sheet, brush both sides with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Roast for 10 minutes in preheated oven at 400 degrees. Set aside.

- While eggplant roasts, in large frying pan saute jalapenos and broccoli with 1T olive oil for 5-7 minutes over medium heat. Salt and pepper to taste; set aside.

- Remove eggplant from oven.

- Line bottom of baking dish with sweet potato slices. Layer with broccoli jalapeno mixture. Then layer onions on top of that.


- Layer eggplant slices next and sprinkle those with the Turmeric.

- Layer 1/2 of the tortilla strips across the eggplant as shown.

- Use 1/2 of the marinara sauce and spread it evenly over tortilla strips.

- Layer with the remaining tortilla strips then place rounds of Gouda over top evenly to cover entire pan. If using shredded cheese, sprinkle evenly over top.

- Spread last of the marinara over the cheese.

- Reduce oven to 375 and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese starts to turn golden brown.

- Remove from oven and sprinkle Gorgonzola over top. Chopped, roasted nuts can be added in place of or in addition to the Gorgonzola. Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting and blissing out on the LA Veggie Bake. BTW, even meat lover men seem to enjoy this recipe. Also a good way to get kids to eat their vegetables.


"No matter what Google says ... the way to a man's heart is still through his stomach."

~xoxo~
FoodFlirt90210