Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole with Tomato/Mushroom filling and Tofu Ricotta

My computers doing weird things - sorry if anything screws up in this post.

Quick post - the other night they had a sale on locally grown produce at Shop n' Save and I picked up the means to make a really great casserole which we had Friday night.

I meant to post this last night but wrote half of it, and am finishing it up now because I never got around to actually posting it.

The recipe we based this on can be found here, but in the end our version was not much like it except for the use of eggplant and zucchini.

I'll give you a rundown of our version:

Jason and Gina's Version of That Recipe

What you'll need:

1 large eggplant (sliced thin, horizontally)
1 large zucchini (sliced thin, horizontally)
4 large tomatoes (chopped into small cubes)
1 small red onion chopped
1 shallot chopped (honestly, if you dont have a shallot or dont feel like buying one, using just onions is fine)
about 8 sliced mushrooms
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup of red wine
1/4 cup of fresh chopped basil
2 tablespoons of olive oil (and then more to coat the sliced eggplant and zucchini)
about a teaspoon and a half of dried oregano
about a teaspoon and a half of dried parsley
salt and pepper
about 1/2 cup, maybe more of panko bread crumbs

1 recipe of tofu ricotta (Vegan with a Vengeance pg 133 which is pretty much just 1 block of tofu, a few cloves of garlic chopped small, salt/pep, lemon juice, nutritional yeast and fresh basil with some olive oil and you smash it all together) - or if you're not vegan use for real ricotta or feta.

Whatchoo do:

1.  Sigh with blissful content at the fact that it's Friday.  Preheat the oven to 425.  Use 2 baking trays and line them with the sliced eggplant and zucchini.  You'll want to brush the sliced eggplant and zucchini with olive oil and then season with salt and pepper.  Put these into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and set aside until you're ready to assemble the casserole.

2.  In the meantime, preheat a pot or sauce pan and then heat up the olive oil.  Once hot, saute the onion and shallot for 3 minutes.

 Then add the garlic and saute for a minute.  Then add the mushrooms, basil, oregano and parsley and some salt and pepper and saute for 6-8 minutes, until the mushrooms release their mushroomy goodness and become soft and delicious looking.

 Add the red wine and bring it to a boil then immediately add the tomatoes.  Bring them to a boil and then simmer for another minute or so.

 3. Use a shallow casserole dish and line it with a layer of eggplant, then a layer of the tomato goodness, then a layer of ricotta.  Then add a layer of zucchini, a layer of the tomato/mushroom stuff, and ricotta.  Then a layer of eggplant again - and so on, you get the idea.  Once done layering, top with the bread crumbs.

4.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Feed.

It turned out slightly soupy or stewey, thus the use of a bowl - but it was delicious.

I think a good variation on this would be to chop kalamata olives and artichokes and add those on top of the bread crumb layer.  Next time.

I also think this would make a good spread for a sandwich - something I intend to try today, for lunch.

I'm up ungodly early today because we are helping Gina's sister attain a couch to take back to college with her because we are awesome.

Have a good weekend!  Here is a picture from last week of Gina holding a tray of chickpea patties.