Capsicum Eggplant Lasagne

I love Italian cuisine and have recently started experimenting with various Italian dishes at home. Whether it was Chicken Spaghetti or Pizza or Calzone or Frittata, with the success of every recipe I got more and more confident that I could prepare Italian food at home.

Of all the Italian food, Lasagne is my favorite. I tried out Capsicum Eggplant Lasagne a few days back and the results were amazing. So try it out and you are sure to love it.

This is the first recipe of Lasagne which I tried and hence it is very special to me. Once I got confidence that I could make Lasagne at home, I started experimenting with the sauce and soon prepared Creamy Chicken Lasagne which was again delicious.

Note that for this recipe I have used direct baking Lasagne sheets which do not require pre-cooking. But I prefer to place them in boiling water for a minute before using them so as to moisten them.

Recipe for Eggplant Capsicum Lasagne:

Serves: 2-3
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

To make vegetable sauce:
Olive oil : 1 tbsp
Garlic: 2 tbsp finely chopped
Onion: 1 roughly chopped
Eggplant: 1 chopped
Green Capsicum: ½ chopped
Red Capsicum: ½ chopped
Tomatoes: 2 cups chopped
Tomato puree: 2 tbsp
Basil leaves: 1 tbsp
Pepper: 1/2 tsp
Salt: to taste

To make white sauce:
Butter: 50 gm
All purpose flour: 2 tbsp
Milk: 2 cups
Pepper: 1/4 tsp
Salt: to taste
Parmesan Cheese: 2 tbsp grated

Final Steps:
Parmesan Cheese: 1/2 cup
Mozzarella Cheese: 1 and 1/2 cup
Lasagne : 9 direct baking sheets

Method of Preparation:

To make vegetable sauce

1. Heat olive oil in pan. Add garlic and sauté till brown. Add onion and sauté till translucent.
2. Add eggplant, capsicum and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add tomato and sauté till soft.
4. Add tomato puree, pepper, salt and basil leaves and mix well. Keep aside

To make white sauce

1. Heat a pan. Add butter to it.
2. Add all purpose flour and mix well to make smooth mixture.
3. Add milk and mix well. Let cook for 2-3 minutes
4. Add salt and pepper and mix well.
5. Add parmesan cheese and mix well. Keep aside.

Final Steps

1. Boil water in a large pan and add salt to it.
2. Place a lasagne sheet in the boiling water for a minute. Remove and let cool on wire rack. Repeat with other sheets.
3. Grease a baking tray. Add a thin layer of white sauce at the bottom of the tray.
4. Arrange lasagne sheets over it so as to cover the white sauce.
5. Add a layer of vegetable sauce over the lasagne.
6. Add another layer of white sauce along with Mozzarella cheese.
7. Cover with lasagne sheet.
8. Repeat steps 5-7. The last layer of lasagne sheets should be covered with white sauce, mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.
9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for 25-30 minutes. You can also cover with aluminium foil for the first 20 minutes of baking and remove the aluminium foil for the last 10 minutes.