aubergine swiss chard lasagne

This aubergine swiss chard lasagne is a delicious and low carb dinner full of veggies!

I always look for ways to add more vegetables into my dinners and lower the unnessicary calorie content. This lasagne has no pasta layers, but uses layers of thinly slices aubergine/egg plant to replace the pasta. This adds more vegetables to the lasagne and reduces the calories and the carbs.

How strange as it may sound, I actually don’t like to spend longer in the kitchen than neccisary if it’s not worth my time. I like maximum results in less time. So I wanted to make a lasagne that is quick to make but with maximum flavor. This recipe is quicker to make, because we won’t be making time consuming bechamel sauce but we’re using ricotta cheese as our base.

To the ricotta, I’ve added swiss chard, a vegetable that is in season and widely available now. It’s flavor is a cross between spinach and red beets, so it can replace the regular old spinach in this lasagne for a nice flavor variation.

This aubergine swiss chard lasagne also features a tomato sauce with ground chicken for some extra protein. The tomato sauce doesn’t need to simmer for long, because I’m using tomato frito, similar to an Italian soffrito. It’s a tomato sauce that you can buy at the store with lots of flavor because it already has been simmered for long to make it, so we don’t have to. It saves us a lot of time.

Recipe suggestions:

• Make this dish vegetarian by leaving out the ground chicken and layer with the tomato frito only. No need to cook the sauce beforehand. The dish is now even quicker to prepare!
• If you can’t find tomato frito, just use tomato passata and simmer the sauce for longer to create a sauce with a richer flavor.

Servings: 3-4

Ingredients:

• 2 large aubergines / eggplants 
• 250 grams organic ground chicken 
• 350 grams organic tomato frito sauce 
• 250 grams ricotta cheese 
• 250 grams Swiss chard or spinach , chopped
• 2 eggs 
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tsp sugar
• Fresh chopped herbs such as thyme, sage, oregano, basil , or dried. 
• 30 grams or more grated Parmesan cheese or other grated cheese
• Freshly grated nutmeg 
• Sea salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 240 c. 
2. Use a mandolin to slice the aubergine into thin slices or use a knife and slice as thin as possible. 
3. Arrange half of the aubergine on a large baking tray lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with oil, season with salt and pepper and bake for 10-15 minutes until cooked. Repeat with the other half of the aubergine slices or use two baking trays and bake them all at once. Lower the oven temperature to 180 c. 
4. Set aubergine aside and make the tomato sauce. Put a skillet on high heat with a bit of oil and add the ground chicken. Cook until done and add the onion and half of the chopped garlic, saute for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the tomato frito , a splash of water , half of the chopped herbs and add the sugar. Taste to see if it needs more seasoning, and season with extra salt and pepper if necessary. 
5. Cook the sauce for about 10 minutes. Dilute with a bit of water if the sauce gets too dry but be careful with adding too much water. Set the sauce aside. 
6. Take another skillet , add oil and garlic and saute the Swiss chard until wilted. Let it cool down a bit. 
7. In a bowl, add the ricotta and the eggs. Add the chard and season generously with freshly grated nutmeg, salt and pepper. 
8. Build the lasagne : in a 20 cm baking tin, make layers. Add a layer of aubergine slices, a layer of tomato sauce, aubergine slices and ricotta mixture. Repeat until all ingredients are used. End with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Sprinkle all layers with the remaining chopped fresh herbs. 
9. Cover with the grated Parmesan cheese and sprinkle on some fresh herbs.
10. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.