rustic bread and eggplant lasagna

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This hearty recipe comes from Vegan Yum Yum a great blog by amateur vegan chef Lolo. She says this recipe was inspired by watching "The Sopranos"!  Check it out:

Ingredients

3 Tbs Olive Oil
4-6 Cloves Garlic minced optional
2 28 oz Cans Organic Tomatoes blended
2 tsp Salt
4 tsp Dried Italian Herbs
Olive Oil for drizzling
2-3 Medium Eggplants peeled
8-10 Large Slices of Sourdough Bread
1 Cup Breadcrumbs or 2 more pieces of bread for toasting and food processing
1-2 Large Ripe Tomatoes fresh for garnish
Basil for garnish

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Steps

In a very large skillet with high sides or a sauce pan heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
Sweat the garlic for 1-2 minutes then add tomatoes salt and herbs. Cook for 30 minutes bubbling stirring occasionally. Invert a mesh strainer over the top of the pan to prevent splatter if desired.
Preheat oven to 400º F.
Meanwhile prep two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Peel the eggplants by slicing off the top and bottom and using the cut edge to start your vegetable peeler.
Holding the eggplant vertically cut the eggplants into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange in one layer on a baking sheet.
Sprinkle with salt and drizzle liberally with olive oil.
Bake eggplant for 30-40 minutes at 400º turning once until very very soft and browned in some places.
Spray both sides of each slice of bread with spray oil and "grill" in a hot skillet until browned on both sides. You can also simply toast the bread but I think you get more flavor with grilling.
In a large baking dish a lasagna dish spread 1 1/2 cups of tomato sauce. Line the bottom of the dish with bread filling as many of the gaps as possible without overlapping.
Place half of the eggplant on top of the bread followed by another 1 to 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce.
Add a second layer of bread.
Add the second half of the eggplant and all of the remaining sauce. Make sure that the bread is completely covered by sauce.
Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top.
Place fresh tomato slices on the top of the lasagna sprinkled with salt and pepper.
Bake for 40 minutes at 400º F. Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before cutting.
Top with basil leaves and drizzle sweet and thick balsamic vinegar or balsamic syrup on the plate if desired.

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You can check out more recipes like this one at vegan yum yum. Thanks Lolo!