Eggplant Lasagna.

I did it! I made the Eggplant Lasagna. And might I say, I loved every single second of making it. It was an all day project to be sure. I knew that I wanted to make it gluten free and completely from scratch, which is always the most rewarding way to cook. The day started with me selling back old textbooks and getting a whopping $98 for them! Heck yes! So many things to spend that money on. The mind boggles. From there my friend and sous chef and I went on a food adventure in the Outer Richmond district. The weather was perfect, albeit a tad breezy, and we spent a lot of time walking aimlessly from produce market to produce market. I didn't really plan ahead for what I needed. I just figured I'd figure it out as I went along. Which is exactly what I did. From the first market I bought nothing because everything was Russian or Armenian, but I will say that "ethnic markets" (for lack of a better term, I apologize) are always resplendent with ridiculously tasty looking sweets that are fun to peruse. From the second market I bought an eggplant, a yellow onion, and some mozzarella cheese. From the third market I bought another onion, white garlic, black garlic, tomatoes, and tomato paste (the only canned item I bought). From there we decided to get lunch, even though neither of us were hungry. Sometimes you just wanna eat. We ended up at a BBQ joint on Geary, where I ordered a pulled pork sandwich and good god it was tasty. "Lauren, I thought you were going gluten free?" Get off me, okay?! It's hard! I also got a rootbeer float because it had been way too long and sometimes you just wanna float. From there we headed back to my apartment, but made a quick stop at Trader Joes for the parmesan and gorgonzola cheese, sliced mushrooms, ground turkey, and some of my other weekly necessities. Like baked cheese crunchies. And you all should know that they were purchased on Thursday, today is Sunday, and they still haven't been opened. New record. Anyway, finally we made it back to my apartment and the prep work began. This is a rather lengthy process if you decide to go the homemade-from-scratch route. But like I said, it's an incredibly rewarding process, especially if you've never made it before (which I have not. Herego, rewarding). I will say this at the beginning, though: eggplant has a very high moisture content, so when it cooks at that high of a temperature, it releases a lot of fluid. This caused the sauce to be slightly more watery than I intended. That being said, once the lasagna is out of the oven and has cooled a bit, it sets and most of that moisture is reabsorbed. So this is something that I will definitely be making again. I'll write it out the way I did it, but I'll also write in the shortcuts I can think of. And with that, we're off!

You Will Need:
1. 9x13 glass baking dish
2. Olive oil
3. 1 eggplant
4. 1 yellow onion
5. 1 whole garlic clove
6. 5-7 medium tomatoes
7. Sliced mushrooms (I bought mine pre sliced)
8. 1lb+ ground turkey. I probably could have used more than I did.
9. Mozzarella, gorgonzola, and parmesan cheese. I'm blanking on the amount. I bought a log of mozzarella, a good sized wedge of parmesan, and a 16oz tub of herb gorgonzola. I'm hoping that the shape descriptions are sufficient for you.
10. Salt to taste
11. Complimentary spices and herbs of your choice. I chose basil.
12. Two small cans of tomato paste
13. I think that's it...

1. Peel and dice onion
2. Mince the fresh garlic, you'll only need a few cloves worth*
3. Slice the eggplant lengthwise in thin slices, about 1/4 of an inch
4. In a frying pan, cook ground turkey until no longer pink
*Buy a jar of minced garlic

For The Sauce*:
1. Cut up all of your tomatoes into medium sized pieces and put them all in a large sauce pan to simmer
2. As the tomatoes start to soften, use a spoon or fork to mash them up
3. Add in diced onion and minced garlic to taste and let simmer, and set any leftovers aside
4. Add in one can of tomato paste, stir in well, and let simmer
5. Add in salt and spices to taste, continue to simmer
6. I found that my sauce needed another 3/4 of a can of tomato paste, but this will be up to you
7. Once you get your sauce tasting perfect, you can continue to let it simmer on low, low heat until your ready for it
*Buy a few jars of your favorite sauce! This will save you a considerable amount of time.

For The Lasagna:
1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Slice the mozzarella lengthwise, about 1/4 inch thick
3. Grate most, if not all, of the parmesan wedge. No such thing as too much*
*Buy pre-grated parmesan. Just make sure you buy enough

To Assemble:
1. Grease the baking dish with some olive oil
2. Pour some sauce into the base of the pan, not too much but enough to cover
3. Sprinkle in some of the diced onion and minced garlic
4. Lay down your first layer of eggplant slices as if they were lasagna noodles
5. On top of the eggplant lay some of the mushroom slices
6. On top of the mushroom slices, lay down slices of mozzarella, and a generous layer of parmesan and gorgonzola as well
7. On top of the cheese, layer some of the ground turkey
8. Sprinkle on more of the diced onions
9. Repeat steps 2-8 to make the second layer.
10. For the top, lay down the rest of your mozzarella slices, the rest of your grated parmesan, and the rest of your gorgonzola (or however much cheese you want). But remember, the top of a lasagna is supposed to be a magnificent crust of melted cheeses, so don't be shy!

Put the lasagna in the oven for about 40 minutes. Use the top layer of cheese as your reference point. When it looks all melted and nicely browned around the edges, it's ready! Let cool and set before cutting into it. Enjoy!