Believe it or not, I made Eggplant Parmesan for the first time recently. I'm not sure how it took this long for me to make it, but I have already made it several more times, and my Chief Food Critic has already declared this as a household favorite that we need to eat on a regular basis.
There are lots of options you can do for sides, you could do a simple steamed veggie, some herbed pasta, or, like I did today, a combination of the two.
You may have noticed that most Eggplant Parmesan recipes floating round require you to fry the eggplant, which adds a lot of unneeded calories to a dish that easily can be made in a healthier way.
Martha served as my inspiration for this dish, to see the original, see here: http://www.marthastewart.com/313564/baked-eggplant-parmesan
What you'll need:
Eggplant Parmesan (serves 2 adults)
1 Eggplant
3/4 cup bread crumbs
2 TBSP Italian Parsley, fresh, chopped
1 TBSP Basil, chopped
1 TBSP finely shredded parmesan
1 Egg
1/4 cup water
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce, I recommend Whole Foods Roasted Vegetable sauce
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Broccolini Pasta
1 lb cavatappi pasta
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 bushel of broccolini
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 cup loose Italian Parsley leaves, chopped
Olive oil
First off. . .make sure all babies in the vicinity are happy and being held.
Ok, now that RLG is being taken care of, to tonight's entrée. . .start by slicing your eggplant to a half and inch or less slices. Combine the egg and water in one dish, stir and set aside. Combine the breadcrumbs, parsley, basil and parmesan in another dish.
Prepare a cookie sheet by coating with olive oil and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Take each slice of the eggplant, dip in the egg mixture, turn over, let the excess egg drop off, then drip in the breadcrumb mixture to cover. Place the eggplant slice on the cookie sheet, repeat with the remaining slices of eggplant.
Bake the eggplant for 20 minutes, flip all the pieces, bake for another 20 minutes, then remove from the oven.
Raise the oven heat to 400 degrees.Prepare a baking dish by coating the bottom with some sauce, then layer eggplant slices with mozzarella slices and more sauce, topping the top (sorry, there has to be a better way to say that then "topping the top" but I have baby brain at the moment and "topping the top" is the best I have), with some shredded parmesan.
Bake for another 15-20 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes.
YUM!!! But wait. . .we still need our side dish!!!
While the eggplant is baking, bring a large pot of water to boil, add the cavatappi and boil until tender. Drain, set aside.
In a separate pan, heat some oil and sauté the broccolini, add the diced tomatoes and continue to cook until warm.
Return the pasta to the pan, add the broccolini and tomato mixture and sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
And now, time to eat!
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