This recipe was again, a blend of recipes that I just did my own thing to. This is great when you want to go meatless, as a fellow carnivore, I do not miss meat when I make this! The eggplant has a step that is very important and I would not ever skip this step. Take the eggplant and chop into about half an inch sliced disks. Take paper towel, salt the eggplant both sides and allow to draw the moisture out of the eggplant for at least 30 minutes. After you see the brown liquid which makes the eggplants taste bitter come out, you are good to go!
Eggplant Parmesan Recipe:
- 1 Large Eggplant
- 2 cups dry Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1 cups grated parmesan cheese
- 1 8 oz bag of shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsely minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil
- Italian season mix
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 cups pasta sauce
- 1 pound spaghetti or linguine
- salt and pepper to taste
Mushroom Recipe:
- 1 box Baby Bella Mushrooms
- 1 shallot
- 4 cloves garlic
- italian seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil
- garlic powder
- butter
Directions:
- Cut the eggplant into 1.2 inch thick slices. Place on a paper towel. Sprinkle both sides with salt to draw out the liquid and bitterness. Let air dry for 30 minutes at least. Press down with a fresh paper towel and continue to draw out liquids until no more goes onto the paper towel.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese and fresh herbs onto a plate and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and water and set aside. On a third plate, spread out the flour. Set up a station where all three plates are close together in the order in which you will prepare your eggplants.
- Coat the eggplant in flour and make sure to shake off excess flour. Dip into the egg mixture and then coat generously with the breadcrumbs mixture, patting down with your fingers to make sure it sticks.
- heat olive oil into a large skillet pan and sauté for about 2 minutes per side until perfectly golden brown. Remove eggplant and set aside on a plate.
- Lightly oil a 13 inch baking dish and layer about one cup pasta sauce on the bottom of the pan. Arrange the eggplant in tow rows over the sauce, slightly overlapping them. Cover with remaining pasta sauce, mozzarella and parisian cheese.
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for about 35 minutes. For the last five minutes, remove the foil, raise the temperature to 400 degrees and cook uncovered.
- When the eggplants are baking, start boiling the water, add salt to the water and some oil so the noodles don’t stick. Cook to directions on the package. I always encourage cooking the noodles al dente so when they keep cooking they are just right.
- Wash a bowl of baby bella mushrooms, and slice up some shallots and garlic. Add olive oil and butter to a pan and cook on medium heat. Add italian seasoning, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook uncovered since the mushrooms give off a lot of water and you want it to evaporate. Cook until desired tenderness and serve with pasta.
- Add butter to the pasta so they don’t stick once you drain them and add some italian seasoning as a garnish to the finished eggplant parmesan.
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