Summer dinners are great. You can get away with not turning the oven on, eating a lighter meal and not spending a lot of time doing any of it. Plus, I love trying to eat as many summer tomatoes as I can. There is something so special about a fresh garden or farmer’s market tomato.
This meal is a spin on one of my favorite winter dishes, baked eggplant lasagne. I wanted to find a way to enjoy the same ingredients, but without heating my kitchen an extra 20 degrees in DC’s August heat.
Grilling the eggplant softens it up without heating your house. We don’t have an outdoor grill anymore, so I used our trusted electric panini press griller. You don’t need to flip the eggplant if you use one of these, but I rotated them so I would get nice grill lines.
The filling is just a simple mix of part-skim ricotta, shaved parm, minced garlic, fresh basil, salt, pepper and a shake of red pepper flakes. This stack of eggplant, tomato and ricotta, topped with spicy arugula, parm and a little bit of balsamic? My kinda dinner.
The balsamic mixes with the ricotta and creates a wonderfully delicious flavor. Serve with a side of crusty gluten free bread (I can’t wait to tell you about the Schar baguette!) and you’ve got an easy summer dinner. 
For my dinner-isn’t-dinner-without-protein husband, I grilled up some shrimp as a side, but this is totally filling as a meal. Plus, it’s totally one of those “oh, I just threw this together” meals. Dig in!
Summer Tomato Eggplant Ricotta Salad Stack
1 Eggplant
1 Beefsteak or heirloom tomato
1 8-12 ounce container of part-skim ricotta
2 Tbsp shredded or shaved parm + more for topping
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 Tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
2 cloves minced garlic (I love garlic, so use less if you don’t)
Salt and pepper to taste
Arugula (optional)
Balsamic vinegar (optional)
Slice the eggplant into 1/4 or 1/2 inch rounds with a sharp knife. Try to keep them similar widths so they’ll cook evenly. Spray or brush both sides of each round and place on a grill or panini press. These cooked for about 15 minutes on my electric griller. While eggplant cooks, mix together ricotta, parm, chopped basil, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes if using. Slice the tomato.
Place a cooked eggplant round on a plate, top with 1-2 Tbsp ricotta filling. Cover with a tomato slice, another dab of filling and some arugula. Repeat until you have a stack of 2 tomato slices and 2-3 slices of eggplant. Sprinkle with extra parm and a drizzle of good balsamic. Eat immediately!
Cooked eggplant will store in the fridge for a few days and is great for panini or in a stir-fry. If I have extra ricotta mixture, I love to spread it on a piece of toast with some sliced avocado.
Note: I usually use a mainstream brand like Sorrento for this dish and have found that it works best. In this case, I used an organic farm-made ricotta and it didn’t bind quite as well. The consistency was much waterier than usual but still tasted great!
Gluten Free Glow 