Eggplant Parmesan

• 

• 

This was me first time having and cooking with eggplant. When I was looking at recipes that use eggplant, I was surprised to find many people use eggplant in place of a protein like chicken or beef. I decided to make eggplant parmesan because it was one of the first recipes to pop into my head for eggplant. This recipe can easily be made vegetarian by swapping out cheese for vegan cheese, egg for an egg replacement, and using a natural oil like canola (what I used) or coconut. With this dish, I made homemade sauce. I added 1/3 of a very large zucchini and 1 large cucumber. Because these are both sweeter veggies, I added some salt and it came out tasting amazing and looking beautiful with speckles of green. I also added some red pepper flakes for spice, and same paprika for smokey flavor. Finally, I added the sauce at the end. I altered that for the recipe since I noticed after that many people like to bake it with the sauce. I chose not to though thinking the crispy crust was more important then having a gooey cheese on top. Either way, you can’t mess up this recipe! Makes 5-7 adult sized servings.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

What You Will Need

• 1 Medium Eggplant
• 2 sandwich bags
• 1 pie plate
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 cup Flour
• 1/2 cup Mozzarella shredded
• 1/2 cup Spaghetti sauce
• 1 cup oil
• Large Dutch Oven
• 9 X13 baking dish

Directions

1. Slice off the top and bottom of your eggplant and discard. Slice remaining eggplant into 1/4 inch slices.
2. Add flour to one sandwich bag, add parmesan to the second. Crack your egg into the pie plate, add 2 Tbsp water, then beat with a fork until smooth. Add the oil to a dutch oven, and heat over medium heat until oil ripples.
3. One-Two pieces at a time, coat the eggplant slices with flour, then egg, then parmesan. Then, set aside. Repeat for all remaining slices.
4. Heat oven to 350 F.
5. Add slices carefully to oil. Cook on each side for 2 minutes. Then transfer directly to the baking dish.
6. Top each slice with 1 Tbsp sauce and a generous pinch of mozzarella. Add to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.