The perfect gluten free meal - chalk full of vitamins, minerals and nutrients this is a hearty and delicious dish you're going to feel great about.

Hearty, flavorful and seriously good for you. This is the perfect dish for a Meatless Monday (aside from the beef broth), or any other day of the week for that matter. So stinking bomb that it actually inspired me to plant eggplants in my garden this year for the sole purpose of making this meal. Inspired by the Edina Grill dish, this Mushroom and Eggplant Ragu over zucchini noodles is a serious show stopper.

Comfort food enough for those cold winter months, but chalk full of fresh healthiness to feel good about in the summer months - you can really enjoy this one all year round. The best part though? This dish is so crazy good for you it's not even funny. From eggplants to lentils, tomatoes and zucchini, this meal just about has the colors of the rainbow covered along with a wide variety of vitamins, minerals and nutrients. It's a perfect gluten free meal, but I wouldn't be opposed to a crisp piece of garlic toast to help soak up all that yummy sauce.

Lentils, eggplants, mushrooms, tomatoes and zucchini make this a seriously great for you dish that you're going to enjoy all year round.

Ingredients

1/2 c. lentils

2 c. beef broth

1 eggplant - skinned and chopped into 1/4"-1/2" thick large bite size chunks

nonstick cooking spray

salt

3 T unsalted butter

2 T olive oil + additional 2 tablespoons

16 oz white button mushrooms - quartered

1 yellow onion - diced

1 large (or 2 small) cloves garlic - minced

2 zucchinis - spiralized

1 pint grape tomatoes

1 c. red wine

1 T. tomato paste

optional freshly grated parmesan cheese for topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, bring lentils and beef broth to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes or until lentils are tender (different types of lentils may require different cooking times).

Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Spread eggplant evenly on pan. Spray top of eggplant lightly with cooking spray and give a generous sprinkle of salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until browned - stir halfway through. Set aside until end of recipe.

While the eggplant is baking, heat butter and olive oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick pan. Add mushrooms and cook on medium-high to high heat until lightly browned (depending on the size of your pan this could take 10-15 minutes or longer). Add yellow onion and cook an additional couple minutes until onion is translucent. Stir in garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds - 1 minute. Transfer mixture to plate.

In the same pan you just used to cook the mushrooms/onion/garlic, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. Add zucchini and cook, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes or until tender. Remove to plate.

Using the same pan, heat another drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. Add grape tomatoes, cover and cook 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook a couple of minutes stirring almost constantly. Add red wine and bring to boil stirring until the mixture is smooth. Reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes or until liquid has reduced by half. Smash the tomatoes with a wooden spoon if they haven’t broken down yet. Stir in the lentils/broth, mushroom mixture and eggplant and cook until heated through and most of the liquid has evaporated.

Serve over zucchini noodles and an optional dusting of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Serves: 4-6