On a whim, the last time I was grocery shopping, I grabbed an eggplant. I’ve never cooked eggplant before, and I really didn’t know what to do with it other than make eggplant parmesan. With the cold, snowy weather we’ve had here in Buffalo the past few days, nothing sounded better than some baked eggplant parmesan overtop some whole wheat spaghetti. Warm and comforting.
Over the weekend, I picked up a few daylight lightbulbs to put onto the ceiling fan light in our dining room so that I could take pictures at night without the lighting being absolutely horrible. This was my first time trying it out! I’m really happy with how bright it is, without the horrible yellow tinge.
This recipe took me about an hour to make start to finish, which was totally cool with me; I squeezed an hour nap in before I started, and I had it done not too long after Alex got home from class. There’s a lot of eggplant left over, too, so I’m really excited. Alex wants to make eggplant parmesan pizza later in the week.
I like how the eggplant didn’t end up extremely mushy like I’m used to with eggplant dishes. It’s nice and soft with a bit of a bite, so there’s no weird texture going on.
I used inspiration for this recipe from Ezra Poundcake and Martha Stewart – I knew it’d be delicious coming from them!
Baked Eggplant Parmesan
serves 4
1 large eggplant, cut lengthwise into 1/2″ thick pieces
1 egg
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup shredded romano
1 t oregano
1/2 t basil
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 t garlic powder
1 24-oz jar marinara sauce (or your favorite pasta sauce)
1 cup mozzarella
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Beat the egg with 1 T cold water in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup parmesan, 1/4 cup romano, oregano, basil, sea salt, and garlic powder. Dip the eggplant into the egg mixture and then into the crumb mixture. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with oil. Repeat with the remaining eggplant pieces.
Bake for 15 minutes, flip the eggplant pieces over, and bake for another 15 minutes, until lightly browned on each side. Remove from the oven and spoon a bit of the marinara sauce on each eggplant pieces. Top with mozzarella and the remaining 1/4 cup romano and 1/4 cup parmesan. Place back into the oven, and bake until the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve by itself or over top whole wheat spaghetti. Enjoy!