Eggplant Parmesan for meatless Monday. Eggplant topped with Parmesan and mozzarella cheese, bread crumbs, served over pasta.
I briefly mentioned that Nate and I are eating vegetarian for the next few days. You can read a little about why we are doing this here. But to sum it up we want to see if it actually makes us feel better. And no, we would never completely cut meats out of our diet but we want to eat a lot less of them, especially red meat. And we believe this would help our hearts as well as our wallets. So I am one week in (as of yesterday), and Nate started a few days before I did.
The problem is, that as we are cutting meat out we know we have to fill that void with a lot of beans and eggs so that we still get our protein. And we’ve been eating some of those, but we’ve been eating a LOT of bread and cheese to fill that void. We’ve also been eating really simple meals, which isn’t necessarily bad; we’ve had been and cheese burritos, breakfast burritos, vegetable fajitas, cheese pizza, etc.
Well, finally last night I decided it was time to actually “cook” something for dinner. And one of my favorite meals is chicken parmigiana and I’m always hearing about eggplant parmesan, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to try it. And it was really good. (Of course its hard to go wrong with breading, tomato sauce and cheese). The texture wasn’t too bad for me, though Nate was surprised and said it was like mushroom. I think it was like slightly overcooked squash. And I only really tasted the eggplant in about 3 bites of the whole thing, so its definitely something I’d make again.
Eggplant Parmesan
Ingredients
- 1-2 large eggplant
- 2-3 eggs (beaten)
- 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
- 1/8 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 TBS oregano
- 1/2 TBS basil
- 3-4 cups tomato sauce
- 4-8 oz mozzarella cheese (shredded)
- 8-16 oz pasta noodles (cooked)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Peel eggplant skin off. Cut into slices, about 1/2 inch thick.
- Dip eggplant slices into egg and then breadcrumbs. Cover evenly.
- Place on a sprayed baking sheet in one layer.
- Cook for 8-10 minutes and then flip. Cook 8-10 minutes on second side.
- In a small saucepan; add tomato sauce, oregano and basil. Simmer for a few minutes.
- Pour about half of your sauce into a baking pan.
- Lay eggplant in sauce. Top with cheese. Cover with additional sauce. (Do 2 layers of egg plant if necessary)
- Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes.
- Remove foil and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Serve eggplant on top of prepared pasta.
- Top with additional parmesan or mozzarella cheese if desired.
Enjoy.
Shaunna says
You realize you forgot to include the oregano and basil, right?
Ellen says
???? wondering about this question because the recipe includes those as ingredients. I will clarify with the sauce, that it is made with the tomato sauce and the spices mixed in and simmered for a few minutes. I will fix that in the recipe instructions. Thanks.
Sybil Gold says
After you slice eggplant, salt the slices, let rest about 15 min., wash salt off, and continue. Salt seems to draw bitterness out of eggplant.
Aimee Berrett says
That’s great to know Sybil! I will try that next time!
Craig says
So, are you saying that you do not like the taste of eggplant? You can use large zuchinni instead of eggplant.
aimeeberrett says
I’ve only eaten eggplant once besides this time, in ratatouille and I thought it was good. But the couple bites where I felt like I could taste it, it was a little bitter. I think zucchini would be really tasty cooked like this too! 🙂
Holland Hettinger Denny says
Mmmmmm 🙂