Sorry no advice on eggplant lasagna, but 1 of my fave dishes is eggplant parmigiana. Molly Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook recipe tells how to bake the eggplant rather than frying, for a less greasy result - that's the one I prefer. It is layered like a lasagna as well. Getting hungry just thinking about that - esp. w/ fresh mozzarella....

How I would do it is using my regular lasagna pan, whatever it was. The tallest sides. I used to drape the side with pasta, but with a stoneware baking dish that isn't necessary and my eaters don't like the pasta heavy sides. I would also have roasted the eggplant. It brings out the flavor, plus what you get from the caramelized oil, but most important it sweats out the water. There is a LOT of water in eggplant, and the number one rule of lasagna is to control the liquid if you want nice layered stacks, rather than runny gooey pudding. That's why the eggs in the ricotta, too. They kind of rise, sort of, and hold it in place. I use one large egg per pound of not too wet ricotta.

I also use a variety of cheeses. Sometimes it depends on what I have, but normally, it's fontina, provolone, and pecorino romano, plus well drained fresh mozzarella, or the non-rubbery aged. Rather than measuring and mixing, I just grate the individual blocks, and sprinkle them across. Where there are two or three together, including over the ricotto, they meld, and then the overs can be saved separately for other dishes.

To assemble, I'd lay out the eggplant slices and eyeball measure whether it would make one or two layers, and if necessary, add something else if I needed more to fill the pan. For fancy, one removes the skin, but since that's where a lot of the flavor is, and probably the nutrition, I like to keep it even though it makes for a non-uniform texture. Things to add could be roasted red peppers, minced vegetables (with a little cheese) or chicken sausage, or your spinach, or whatever I thought went well. Even with stoneware, to which it doesn't stick, I spread a spoon of sauce on the bottom. Always a ricotta layer first because it helps hold things together. The star ingredient in the last layer (and possibly below, depending on how much there is), and mozzarella and parmesan on top of the last layer of pasta, to melt and get a nice browning and look pretty. Or béchamel if you want to be very traditional.

I'm making pumpkin lasagna today (if the pumpkins I've saved haven't dried out too much), and it has béchamel on the inside too.

I've never made an eggplant lasagna, but here's what I'd try....

I'd slice and pre-bake (or fairly-dry saute) the eggplant first. I'd skip the pasta completely. I'd oil a lasagna pan, put some sauce on the bottom, add a layer of eggplant, add your cheese/eggs/herbs and any meat, more sauce, then another layer of eggplant and repeat -- but end with eggplant on top and only put sauce on that top layer. I'd cover and bake til almost done, then remove the cover and add some melting cheese and/or parmesan and return to oven for 10-15 mins to finish. Alternatively, I might try making eggplant-lasagna rollups.

ETA: your spinach leaves would make a nice addition with the cheese layer.

I never use bechamel on anything, as it upsets my stomach (and the Mozzarella may also), and I am using a pasta sauce instead. The eggplant lost most of its water in the baking process, and I am not concerned with extra water, as I will not be boiling the pasta, and it will soak up extra moisture, if there is any.

I also always start with sauce on the bottom, but then I generally put a layer of pasta on top of that. I am wondering if I should put the eggplant directly on top of the pasta or if there should be cheese in between. I also have Fontina and Romano cheese, but I will not be using those in this.

I may just use a Corningware pan, since it has a lid, and if I have too much for one pan, that's okay, as I have two Corningware pans (one is Kevin's). I guess that's better than using one large metal pan, as it may stick to that. I have some red bell peppers, but I've not used those with eggplant before, and I do not want to have to roast them. I also have Italian turkey sausage, and I've not used that with eggplant before either - I think I would rather have that on the side. I was planning on smoking or grilling those this week-end.

I do not have enough eggplant to make enough eggplant Parmigiana (although that is one of my favorites), but I had considered Moussaka, and I do have all the ingredients for that. I could make pasta as a side dish, I suppose, but I thought it would be interesting to combine lasagna and eggplant.

If you need something else for a filler, and don't want to use your frozen spinach, you can just whir up some veg in the food processor. A couple/three carrots, a zucchini, an onion, etc. Anything you might put in a ratatouille is prescreened to be good with eggplant. :) Set in a strainer to weep, or press between towels. Bind with a little ricotta, grated cheese or egg.

Corningware works great if the sides are tall enough. Brush the metal pan with oil and drape pasta over the sides, and you shouldn't have a sticking problem either. It also might not stick if you don't drape the sides, but it's been too long since I've used metal to remember exactly what sticks.

So sorry to hear you can't have béchamel! It's what elevates the moussaka for me! (I love it, but rarely indulge...)

I generally substitute velouté for béchamel, and that works well enough for me. If I eat moussaka in a restaurant, I will get an upset stomach, however.

I'm thinking now that I will make two different pans - one with all of eggplant plus some lasagna and the other with just lasagna. I might add spinach to the lasagna - I don't think the eggplant needs it, and I like to taste the eggplant, which is why I don't add other vegetables to it, except potatoes in the case of moussaka. I might also add zucchini to moussaka also, but I don't have any zucchini at the moment. Also, I would use celery instead of carrots, as carrots are too sweet for me in these dishes.

Here are my own instructions for making Eggplant Parmigiana:

When all the [eggplant] slices have been fried, get an 8”x13” (or
equivalent) glass or ceramic baking dish and brush olive oil on the bottom and
sides to prevent sticking. Spread a
very thin layer of pasta sauce in the bottom of the baking dish, and then place
a layer of eggplant over that. Put a
small amount of tomato sauce over each slice and then a slice of mozzarella
over each piece, and sprinkle a bit of Provolone and Parmesan over that
layer. Repeat this process until the
baking dish is full, but do not overfill.
The final layer will be tomato sauce with no cheese. I prefer to have all the cheese between the
layers of eggplant, but you can put some on top as well.

Evidently I have not been putting mozzarella on top. I think I may have had it burn at some point. Since I am adding lasagna noodles, I will be adding ricotta to the part with the lasagna, and so perhaps I will have different fillings for the different layers.

Lars, here is a link to an eggplant and chard lasagna from Deborah Madison. I have made it before and found it quite enjoyable. Some years when my garden was humming, I have frozen the eggplant and chard together after preparing it this way so that I could whip the lasagna quicker in the winter. The spinach would of course be a fine substitute for the chard.

I did end up making two pans - one with eggplant and lasagna and the other with just lasagna, and I should have added spinach to the lasagna, but it was still okay. I did like the whole wheat lasagna noodles I made, and so I may do that again. The eggplant wasn't as good as when I breaded it and fried it, but that is very labor intensive and time consuming, and it took long enough to make as it was. I should have bought two eggplants because the one cooked down in the oven to very little - only enough to make two layers. So in one pan I had three layers of lasagna with two layers of eggplant in between. I did not put the ricotta filling on top of the eggplant - just with the lasagna.

I really prefer the eggplant fried and without the lasagna, and so I may not make this again, or maybe with less lasagna and more eggplant.