Eggplant Parmigiana Recipe

As promised here is the recipe I made. I found one online, then modified based on the ingredients I had.

Eggplant Parmigiana

1 medium to large eggplant
sea salt

1-2 Tbs olive oil
1 small to medium onion
2-3 cloves fresh garlic
1 large can crushed tomatoes (not the #10 large, but bigger than standard)
1 small can tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste
1 to 1 1/2 cups water
1/2 bunch fresh parsley finley chopped
2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
1 Tbs. sugar
salt and pepper to taste

1 1/4 cups dried bread crumbs
2 Tbs. fresh parsley finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 cup grated parmesan (the dried/powder kind works best but you can use fresh grated if you want)

1 egg beaten with 2 Tbs water.

2 cups 5 cheese italian blend

Finely chopped fresh basil

Your favorite pasta

Phew, okay so that's the ingredients. I know the list is long, but bear with me, it really was pretty easy.

1) Wash and slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Spread out on paper towels and sprinkle both sides with sea salt to let them "sweat" some of their moisture. This allows them to hold up and the breading to stick better. Set aside.

2) Heat a medium saucepan then add olive oil and onion. Cook onion for 3-5 minutes, until partially translucent. Add fresh garlic (minced or pressed with a garlic press). Stir and let cook for about 30 seconds. Add cans of tomatoes, water, herbs, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil and let simmer while you prepare everything else. Stir occasionally as the solids will sink to the bottom.

(finished product)

3) Heat the oven to 375.

Mix the breadcrumbs with the herbs, garlic salt and pamesan in a bowl, big enough and with shallow enough sides to lay and eggplant flat to coat. Pat the eggplant dry with paper towels, then dip in egg mixture then coat in breadcrumb mixture. Place eggplant on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Do them all and lay them in a single layer. Bake in oven 10 minutes on each side to get them crispy and slightly golden browned.

4) When the eggplant is done, lower heat to 350. In a baking dish first spread some sauce (I used about 1 standard ladle) on bottom then layer half the eggplant. Cover the eggplant with half the 5 cheese blend. Then do one more ladle of sauce and spread on top, then eggplant. Then since this is the top layer a little bit more sauce (not enough to fully cover) and the rest of the cheese. Cover and bake 25 minutes. Remove foil or lid (my baking dish has a lid so that is what I used) and bake 10 minutes more.

Once out of the oven sprinkle with fresh basil just before serving. (If basil gets too hot it will lose some of it's flavor and turn slightly bitter).

Serve with your favorite pasta and the extra sauce, and a little more fresh basil.

Using the fresh herbs and making my own sauce made all the difference in the world! Of course you can make this bigger if you want, I would just double it all and put it in a 9x13.





Even Tyson who doesn't like eggplant liked this one!