Everyone has busy days, the type of days that you’re too busy to cook and the easy thing to do would be to order in or throw some unhealthy grocery-store frozen dinner into the microwave and be done with it. We’ve all done it and what happens is interesting: you don’t eat for the love of food, you just eat and because it’s fast and easy. But then, it never hits those emotional triggers so we end up feeling awful and regretting our choice. There is nothing I hate more (other than the obvious crap going on in our world) than regretting calories. Fret not dear friends, I have the perfect solution with this slow cooker lasagna, and you need not make enough for an army because this handy hack will have you getting that slow cooker out more often!
This is the one slow cooker hack you’ve been waiting for: Line your slow cooker with a silicon mat and lay your smaller, heat-resistant dish on top of it. Presto, a custom-sized slow cooker.
I made this awesome Lentilles du Puy lasagna this way. I won’t lie, there is some prep work with this dish, but a little pre-planning on the weekend will make it a breeze on that busy weeknight. The recipe was inspired by my LA friend, Greg of Sippity Sup, he had made an incredible Swiss Chard Lasagne with Bechamel that literally had me licking my lips during the entire read through! He used one of my favourite ingredients: béchamel sauce!
Slow Cooker Lasagna with Eggplant, Roasted Red Pepper and Lentilles du Puy
Recipe inspired by Greg’s Swiss Chard Lasagna
Makes one 12 cm x 22 cm x 10 cm loaf pan, serves 4 to 6
Ingredients:
- 60 g Lentils du Puys, cooked
- 100 g onions, chopped
- 10 g Ice® Mama Mia garlic, finely chopped (see notes)
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- 400 mL San Marzano tomatoes, crushed
- 250 mL béchamel sauce with a pinch of nutmeg (see notes)
- 4 gluten-free, oven-ready lasagna noodles (I used this brand)
- 1 Chinese eggplant, sliced into 0.5 cm thickness (about 6 slices)
- 176 g roasted red peppers (about 6 small roasted red peppers)
- 150 g Mozzarella cheese, grated
Directions:
- In a splash of olive oil, sauté the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add the oregano and basil and stir well. Add the San Marzano tomatoes and cooked lentils, stir well and allow to cool to room temperature. This makes around 500 mL.
- Prepare a 12 cm x 22 cm x 10 cm loaf pan with non-stick spray. Spread a couple of spoonfuls of the lentil tomato mixture on the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Lay 1 and 1/3 noodles over the lentil-tomato mixture (covering the entire pan area). Top with 1/3 of the lentil-tomato mixture spread evenly over the noodles, then a single layer of 2 roasted red peppers, then lay two slices of the eggplant over the peppers. Top with béchamel and about 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat until everything is layered, making sure you top with the grated cheese.
- Lay a silicon mat (like Silpat) into the slow cooker and place the loaf pan onto it, in the centre (see notes). Cover and turn the slow cooker on high for 3-4 hours or until noodles have cooked through. Relax.
- When the noodles have cooked through, pre-heat the broiler in the oven and broil the lasagna on high until cheese is bubbly and caramelized. Serve hot with simply dressed greens.
A nice bubbly, caramelized cheese topping!
Notes:
- You may have seen me searching for softneck garlic sometime late last year. It was, of course, the wrong time of year for farmer’s market garlic, but that didn’t stop me from trying my best to hunt it down. During this process, a friend on Facebook mentioned Beneli Farms, a Manitoba, 5th generation farming family specializing in garlic for the last 15 years. I reached out to them and they were very quick in getting back to me and eager to help but sadly they were not able to courier me softneck garlic in time, but they did courier a large selection of their specialty garlic! I use garlic a lot but I am still going through my generous stash. For this dish I chose their Mama Mia™ Ice® Garlic for its smooth flavour. It was definitely the right choice as it did not overpower the dish, just provided a smooth, delicate garlic flavour in the tomato sauce. Thank you Garth and Miranda.
- To make gluten-free béchamel sauce, simply substitute a good gluten-free flour with the all-purpose flour. Don’t forget the pinch of nutmeg.
- The Silpat mat simply protects the ceramic bowl of the slow cooker from the the metal loaf pan.
- The Gluten-free noodles I’ve used in this recipe stand up a bit better than regular oven-ready noodles and maintain a good texture in this dish. The liquid proportion I’ve indicated is perfect for cooking the noodles without destroying them, i.e., they still have bite.
- Leftovers may be frozen for future quick meals, but don’t count on it!
Love eggplant lasagna, Eva, but adding lentils makes your dish so much more interesting. I have used loaf pans for lasagna, particularly when I’m making them for myself and they’re headed for the freezer. Even so, never would have thought to heat them in a slow-cooker. What a revelation! Thanks for sharing!
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Very interesting trick with the Silpat. I suppose that, doing this, your slow cooker could become an oven that could cook a huge variety of things. I’m sure I’d rather have your lasagna than any frozen meal!
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I don’t have a slow cooker Eva, but if I did I would make this. Great idea. Looks like you need warm comfort food there too with that weather!
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Now THAT’S a neat little trick right there Eva!
I have a friend who would LOVE doing this, sending her this link right now.
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I love lasagna with bechamel sauce. In my opinion there is no other way! This sounds fabulous!
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This sounds like a hearty and delicious meal…you are so creative.
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Dear Eva, I understand you so well… it’s so awful regretting calories! I don’t regret those taken with foie gras or excellent pizza but occasionally when I’m super hungry and eat something unhealthy and not that good… I hate it!
Your lasagne look fantastic! I would never think of adding lentils into lasagne, but it sounds like an excellent idea (I love lentils and dried beans so much I’ve had either of them at least once a week this winter!).
The garlic has reminded me of the Canadian ice wine! You have reminded me young garlic will appear soon in my organic shop and I’ll make another batch of Korean pickled garlic for the whole year ahead (I’m probably the only one who buys it by kilos!).
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This looks spectacular! Whole lotta good flavors going on — really creative take on lasagna. Love that slow cooker hack, too — genius!
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Terrific new way to look at lasagna. Both in the prep and the flavors. GREG
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Sounds hearty and delicious with the lentils and eggplant. I never would have thought to make it in a slow cooker. What a great hack! And thanks for sharing your Manitoba garlic adventure – it looks like you’ve hit garlic gold!
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Thank you for your comment Michela, it is quite hearty and delicious. I’m sure you could make the béchamel with olive oil. Not sure what to do about the cheese, vegan cheese just doesn’t do it for me. Glad the hack could work for you. I have often wanted to use the slow cooker but it’s bee far too big.
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A great idea of using eggplant instead of noodle to make this Italian classic. Looks very yummy!
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Thanks Angie. There are actually gluten-free noodles in this recipe, but they are easy to miss.
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