Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant Parmesan



All right folks, here's a recipe for Eggplant Parmesan. There is a small Italian franchise here in the Atlanta area that has an eggplant Parmesan my family and I love. I've searched for something that, to me, is equally delicious, and this one comes close. Now, my father's wife says this recipe is *better* than that restaurant, but I don't know if she's just being polite.

Instead of frying the eggplant I bake it, and I also make my own simple marinara.

So here goes:

1 large eggplant
8 oz ricotta
1/4 cp grated parmesan
6 oz shredded mozzarella, plus more if necessary
~4 cp marinara sauce (recipe to follow)
olive oil
breadcrumbs+italian seasoning
Shredded Parmesan cheese

Oven: 350.

Make marinara sauce** (see below)

Place aluminum foil over a cookie sheet and spray with olive oil, set aside.

Slice and peel eggplant and place in a bowl of cold water. I generally get 10-12 slices. Let sit an hour or so.

Once it has a chance to sit, drain and pat dry.

Dip eggplant slices in olive oil (each side) and coat each with breadcrumbs. Place slices on the cookie sheet.

Bake for approximately 10-15 minutes, flip, and bake another 10-15 or until each side is golden brown.

In medium bowl, mix ricotta, Parmesan, and approximately half of the Mozzarella.

In a 9x9 glass dish, spread a thin layer of sauce. Place a single layer of eggplant on sauce (I usually get 4 pieces, for 4 stacks). Evenly top each piece of eggplant with approximately one large tablespoon (flattened) of cheese mixture. Then put about 1/4 cp sauce on top of each one. Repeat process until all eggplant slices are used. Sprinkle with remaining Mozz. and shredded Parmesan cheese.

Bake until bubbly and browned, 30-45-minutes.

***Marinara Sauce:

1 14.5oz can crushed or petite diced tomatoes
1 6oz can tomato paste
6 oz water (or tomato juice)
1/4 cp cooking wine or sherry
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 T olive oil
2 T finely diced onion (optional)
To Taste: salt, pepper, oregano, basil, parsley

Mix all in a medium sauce, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. The longer it simmers the more flavorful it will be.

Enjoy!

Sounds good!

I love eggplant and have a similar way I make mine. I do however make mt own marinara from fresh organic vine ripe tomatoes. I have a Velox Sauce mill I use.

Last night I made Stuffed Zucchini and stuffed eggplant rounds. It was wonderful. I made three large trays of them, so some will be for lunches and some will be frozen for enjoying later this year. I freeze things and then vacloc them

Halved large sweet garden tomatoes are very good with melted mozzarella too, and a bit of fresh clipped basil, and oregano on top

a reply to: visitedbythem

Thanks! And Nice!

I only have a few jars of tomatoes I canned/jarred, and haven't gotten any homegrown, so, unfortunately I tend to use bought-canned. :/

What did you stuff your zucchini with? I have only made stuffed zucchini boats, with large zucchini I grew in the garden, and used sausage. They were delicious. I also vacuum sealed and frozen the extra ones.

Fresh garden tomatoes are the *only* tomatoes I like to eat, and your recipe sounds like a caprese.

I used some ground chuck (Angus), ground pork, grated Mozzarella , egg, Panko bread crumbs, Spanish onion, garlic, Kalamata Olive oil, tomato, Italian parsley, oregano, basil. I forgot to put in the chopped black olives.... Oh well!


Im fortunate to have a big veg and herb garden. I grow year round.

Tonights dinner is Pork Tonkatsu

a reply to: visitedbythem

That looks delicious. And I see you have some boats, too.

Dinner is what time??? lol

I've had a very large veggie garden for a few years, until work prevented me from having and attending to one.

It sure looks good in the picture. I do not mind egg plant, but I never could eat much of it for some reason. I quit eating it maybe fifteen years ago, mostly because I felt a little off for a day after eating it. I used to flour batter and fried it, it tasted pretty good. I no longer remember exactly what what symptoms I had, I just got kind of yucky some how. You learn to avoid things that make you not feel right after eating them after experiencing the feeling multiple times.

It sure looks good though. It almost makes me want to experiment on myself to identify why it makes me yucky.

a reply to: rickymouse

Yeah, although I like eggplant, Eggplant Parmesan is about the only way I really like eating it. Haven't yet found a another recipe that is worth it. Frying it generally how Parmesan is made, But I wanted to do something a *little* bit more healthy.

That's weird how you felt off after eating it, though.